


It was you all along

by Amber96Anime, Cryptic_Fox



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Alya Césaire Is The Best, Alya Césaire Knows, Alya Césaire Ships It, Anyone know how to write a decent sex scene? - Cause I don't, Author has no idea what they're doing so don't expect anything, Awesome Nino Lahiffe, Awkward Nino Lahiffe, Badass Alya Césaire, Blood|Violence|Injury|Near Death Experience, Chat Noir Acts Like a Cat, Chat Noir Angst, Chat Noir Being Chat Noir, Chat Noir Makes Puns, Chat Noir Needs A Hug, Chat Noir Reveal, Chat Noir To The Rescue, Chat|Adrien has issues, Chloe Bourgeois is a Little Bitch, Confused Alya Césaire, Daddy Issues, Don't Thank Me - You Are Welcome, F/M, Flirty Chat Noir, Fluff and Smut|Angst and Hurt and Comfort, Friends to Lovers to Marriage, Gabriel Being Gabriel, Gabriel is a Prick, Hair-Petting|Pulling, Happy Ending - Because Author is a Sucker, Hawk Moth Reveal, Helpful Plagg, Helpful Tikki, Hugs and Kisses are an acceptable form of payment, I Don't Even Know, I REGRET NOTHING, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I am personally naming Adrien's Bodyguard: Enzo, I know the story sucks - Leave Me Alone!, Identity Reveal, It will be Miraculous - Haha Yeah Right, Jade Turtle Nino Lahiffe, JadedFox, LadyNoir - Freeform, Ladybug Reveal, Ladybug To The Rescue, Marichat, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Nino Lahiffe Knows, Nino Lahiffe Ships It, Overprotective Ladybug|Marinette, Pastries Make Everything Better, Plagg Being Plagg, Plagg Cares, Plagg Is So Done, Plagg Loves Cheese, Plagg Won't Admit He's In Love, Plagg is a Little Shit, Protective Alya Césaire, Protective Chat Noir|Adrien, Rena Rouge Alya Césaire, Supportive Tikki, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tikki Is So Done, Tikki Loves Cookies, Unhelpful Plagg, We Are All Alya Césaire, ladrien, purring Chat Noir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-06-13 09:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15361707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amber96Anime/pseuds/Amber96Anime, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryptic_Fox/pseuds/Cryptic_Fox
Summary: Marinette gets the revelation of her life.OrA story where Marinette is the one to discover Chat's identity for once, because in the majority of fanfictions I read, Chat's always the one to figure her out first ---- And although I see no problem with that personally... [MariChat is Life] ... there are some people who demand otherwise, soooooo..... I wrote this. Enjoy.[WARNING: Spoilers]





	1. Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't use the word "Fuck" in the comment section. Thank You.
> 
> +++  
> First comes: LadyNoir  
> Second comes: Ladrien  
> Then comes: MariChat  
> And last comes: Adrinette 
> 
> Your Welcome ^-^  
> Long Live The Miraculous Love Square!!!! Lol. 
> 
> +++  
> French to English Translations are at the end of the chapter. And all Translations are brought to you by Google Translate, because I don't speak French and I know nothing. Ask Google the All-knowing. Haha.

 

 

 

 ** _Everything started out so normal._**  

 

"Chat!! Chat, HANG ON!! CHAT!!!" 

 

**_How did it all go so wrong?_ **

 

 _She sat there on her knees, body trembling. Her breaths coming out in harsh, choked sobs as she held her partner's limp body in her arms; bloodied and bruised and in a tremendous amount of pain._   _His own breaths were taken in short, quick gasps, as if the mere act of it were difficult for him.... it WAS difficult for him - she knew - it was taking a conscious effort on his part, to bring oxygen back into his lungs.... and her heart hurt for him. The knowledge of that, of knowing he was suffering and there was little to nothing she could do for him... only made her cry even harder, not caring of the fact she was soaked to the bone from the rain nor that the Akuma had gotten away. All that mattered.... all that matters is....._

 ** _This shouldn't've happened.  
_****_Not to HIM._**  

"CHAT!!! Come on Kitty, stay with me, keep your eyes open!!! Don't fall asleep!!!" 

 _His head, even despite being propped up by her shoulder, seemed to loll as he fought to stay conscious, his eyes not quite seeing anything past the blurred imagery of storm clouds above their heads and that of a weeping Ladybug - whose tears cascaded down her face, mingling with the rain drops and then falling onto his own face.... which in turn made it look like he was also crying - He wasn't crying though. No matter how much he wished he could, he didn't, he couldn't._ _He stopped crying a long time ago. Ever since he accepted the fact that his mother was gone, that she wasn't coming back.... and that his father.... who was once a warm, caring and even doting man.... would never be that again._

_He knew however, that if this situation right now was reversed, that if it were His Lady laying here and in pain, he would cry; cry so damn hard and hate himself for not being able to help her. That wasn't the case though, it wasn't her, it was HIM that was barely clinging to life in His Lady's arms as she wept for him._

_SHE was WEEPING for HIM.  
__And that..._ that _struck a chord._

 _Chat Noir is hurt; that upsets Ladybug. It was fine to him though, because it meant that she was safe, that he'd done his job.... that he protected His Lady as he always said he would. She was all that mattered to him, he cared little for himself... but still.... he knew there was something not right. Ladybug was still crying and that wasn't right._ _It hurt him - even more than his physical wounds - it burns him to see her so upset. Had the wounds he now sported of been minor, simply a small setback rather than a life-threatening one, he'd be THRILLED at the prospect of her worrying for him._ Concerned _but not_ fearing _for his survival._   _ **Never Fearing.**_

Fear. It doesn't suit her. _He'd thought idly to himself before a harsh coughing fit overcame him, his eyes squeezing shut and turning away from his partner so as to not get anything on her. Which in retrospect was a stroke of pure brilliance on his part.... considering what came out, was blood. His blood._

 

_{His ring beeped once}  
_

 

 _Her eyes widened in shock, panic rising in her chest,_ "No! Chat!!!"  _she clung to him with more force, even as he heaved and gagged past the taste of iron and even his own bile, trying to breathe normally again. He shook his head in the attempt to warn her away from keeping him close, less she get any of the disgusting liquid on her. Sadly it had the opposing effect. H_ _e groaned in pain, wincing as the action had aggravated his wounds and suddenly he felt light headed, dizzy.... a high pitched whine escaped his throat.... sounding for all the world like a wounded animal and that seemed to of been all Ladybug could take before she once again had him pressed up against her. Only this time, she was hushing and cooing at him, wiping the blood away from his mouth with one hand as the other tangled into golden locks.... petting him._

 _He found it was surprisingly calming, comforting...._ when was the last time he'd been touched so familiarly? _Images of his mother flashed in his mind._ Oh Yeah. Almost forgot. _Another animalistic whine from the Cat-Themed-Hero echoed around them and Ladybug wished with everything in her that she could just f*cking DO something for him, ANYTHING besides just sitting here and trying her damndest to keep her partner from departing too soon from this world._

 

_{His ring beeped twice}_

 

 _But what could she do? they both knew the dangers of going to a hospital, especially if their enemy ever discovered they were there - it would put everyone in danger - it also doesn't help that hospitals are where their DNA is most likely to be analyzed and who knows what the results will entail. Not to mention, there was also the chance of their time running out and their transformations dropping in front of who-knows-how-many-witnesses.... so_ _what else can she do, other than stay on this rooftop.... helpless to help him when he needs her the most._ **_When Her Chaton needed her_ _the most._ **

_Heartbreak ached in her chest,_  "It's okay kitten, it'll be okay, you're gonna be okay. Just hang on for me, okay sweetheart? We're going to get through this.... somehow.... and----and then, we're going to go out somewhere and celebrate, okay? Just you and me, we'll spend the whole day together and I---I'll get us both some treats from the bakery..... and y-you---you can say all the puns you'd like."  _she forced a smile on her face, in the hopes it would ease the still growing tension in her, it didn't._  "I promise to laugh at all of them, even if I don't think they're funny. Then at the end, we'll watch the sunset together and... and----"  _brushing his hair from his bangs, she placed a kiss to his forehead,_  "anything else you want after, okay? anything at all.... I'll do anything just so long as you make it through this, partner.  _My Chaton._ "  _she then leaned into his ear and whispered_ , "But to do that, you've got to stay alive. Alright? Open your eyes, kitten. Don't leave me"  ** _Don't Die. Please._**

 

_{His ring beeped thrice}_

 

 _A long moment of silence passed and for a second, she feared that he had no more fight in him and that death would soon come to take him from her._  Then he moved.  _She watched with bated breath as he forced himself to once again open his eyes, locking vivid-green onto bluebell-blue. His eyes may have opened but they were glassy and unfocused, his brows narrowed in confusion for a moment, h_ _is voice came out in a quiet rasp,_  "Why...?" 

"What?"  _somewhat startled by the random question, she managed to compose herself enough to question his questioning._  "Why what?"  

 _Weakly, he raised a hand up to gently cup her face and she could feel the cold metal of his ring biting into her flushed cheek, it managed to help her focus more on him and to gather her wits about her once again. He traced his thumb back and forth, drying away the tears that stained her pretty face_ "Why are you crying?" 

 _Although the question had been asked with a sort of childlike innocence.... the fact that he'd be asking that of her at all, only made her sorrowful all the more, the ache in her chest intensified and it felt to her as if she had been stabbed in the heart. She knew right then, that Chat was losing it, becoming delirious in his pain and slipping away from reality.... he knew why she was crying, he knew but.... at the same time he didn't. Ladybug worried at her bottom lip for a moment, in an attempt to recompose herself, taking in measured breaths in the hopes that she won't break down again. Not now, not when he can no longer comprehend the dire situation he's in anymore, she has to be strong - she knows - she has to be strong for him; for his sake. If nothing else._  

 _She began to pet his hair again, lacing her fingers through his golden hair and lightly scratching at his ears. Thankfully her ministrations had once again seemed to of soothed the poor boy - as a purr rumbled in his chest and his cat-ears twitched in response - she was glad that she was able to_ _give him some semblance of comfort to ward off his pain. No matter how short lived----she winced----_ Bad choice of words, _she inwardly chided to herself before focusing back on her partner._

"You're.... dying, Chat. That's---that's why I'm crying. It's because you're dying and.... and I can't do a damn thing for you and I'm---I'm, I'm sorry... I am so so sorry Chat. I wish that I could make it all better but I can't. I'm useless!! You need me and I'm so freaking useless!!! What kind of a hero am I? I can't even protect my own partner!!!!" 

 

_{His ring beeped quarce}_

 

 _A frown graced his lips, It didn't compute in his confused mind, still_ _something about her words felt wrong.... l_ _ike how seeing her cry was wrong.... that her being afraid was wrong._

 _Ladybug, his Lady, his Partner, his Love; she's meant to smile, always smile----_ he wanted to protect that smile,  _a voice in the back of his mind spoke. It was his job, his duty, his pleasure, his honor - as her partner, as her friend and confidant, as the Yin to her Yang.... the darkness to her light. And indeed, she truly was the only Light in his Dark and dreary world, the only one in the f*cking universe that made his life a thousand times better than it had been before they'd met.... and ever since that first meeting, Chat had made a silent vow, to always, always be there for her. To listen to her problems, take the hits meant for her, be the distraction and bring bad luck and destruction to all who would stand in her way._

 _Chat would gladly lay down his life in exchange for her's.... and now, it seems as though that time had finally come, because here he was.... dying. For her. He knew however, that she would have none of it and had she known this prior, she would've tried to stop him. Course, he couldn't allow that - couldn't let her stop him - otherwise, it may of just-as-well-of-been her that had gotten mortally wounded today. This. This was better. To him anyways and a large part of him felt guilty that he was the cause of her sorrow, her pain...._ it wasn't her fault, it was his choice _._

 _When he spoke, the words came out in a whispered slur,_ "Tis'... it's m'kay m'lady.... pleassse don't cry. Ss'not yer fault. S'mine.... please f-for---give me..... m'lady---m'srry. Sorry"  

 _Her tears renewed themselves despite her, shaking her head wildly in refusal._ "No. Don't apologize!! Don't you dare apologize to me... you have  _NOTHING_  to be sorry for!! You hear me? Nothing!!!!! Chat... Chat S'il vous plaît.... I can't, I can't lose you.... I need you. Chat Noir!!!!!" 

 _Chat smiled weakly,_ "Pardon, Je t'aime"  _losing consciousness, his eyes fluttering closed..... and then, the final warning from his miraculous rang out in rapid concession._  

_**BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP----BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP----BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP----BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!!!!**  _

"No no no no no no!!! CHAT!!!!!!!" 

 _The transformation broke, and left behind, was the supine form of Adrien Agreste; once the blinding light faded and Ladybug regained the use of her sight, a new form of shock overtook the superheroine  •  •  •  •  disbelief_.  

 

"....Adrien?...." 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Fire and Fury" by Skillet, was the inspiration for this chapter and it breaks my heart when added into this context. (T^T) 
> 
> Chat!! My Poor Baby!!!! (=^.^=) It'll be okay sweetie. I'm so terribly sorry for this. It was necessary, I SWEAR!!!! 
> 
> +++ 
> 
> [French to English Translations] 
> 
> Chat = Cat   
> Noir = Black   
> Chaton = Kitten   
> S'il vous plaît = Please  
> Pardon = Sorry   
> Je t'aime = I Love You


	2. The Cat's Outta The Bag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same as before: Please don't use the word "Fuck" in the Comment Section, Thank You ^-^

 

 

"....What? No.... this can't be.... A-Adrien?...." Ladybug stared openly in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape, "N-n-n-no way!!!" 

Without warning, a voice she didn't recognize started yelling at her, "WELL DON'T JUST SIT THERE GAPING LIKE A F*CKING FISH!!! HELP HIM DAMNIT!!!!!!" 

"Huh?!!" Jerking out of her trance, she glanced around wildly, searching for the source of those words - a new form of panic rising in her chest.  _Oh no, did someone else see him transform? Was there another person up here the whole time? How?!!!----_ And then directly in her face was the form of a little black creature with green cat-like eyes glaring daggers into her skull. "HE'S DYING FOR CAMEMBERT'S SAKE!!!!!! DO SOMETHING, YOU DAMN BUG!!!! ADRIEN NEEDS YOU!!!! HELP HIM!!!! NOW!!!!" 

Ladybug flinched back in surprise (also at the ferocity in his tone) before his words set in her rattled brain, eyes darting between Adrien and the creature.... who, now that she thought about it, is probably a Kwami. "I-I-I don't know how!!!!! Don't you think I would have if I could?!!" 

The Kwami growled threateningly, fangs bared. "DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING??!!! USE YOUR F*CKING LUCKY CHARM!!!! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE??!!!" 

 

_He's nothing like Tikki._

 

She was taken aback by his rudeness and blatant disregard for her feelings.... but then again, this wasn't the time nor the place for being offended.  _This isn't even about me_ , Chat---Adrien was dying and she needed to do something! This Kwami, no matter how crude, was telling her what she needed to do, giving her the direction she so desperately needed. Handing her the tools necessary to save him....  _TOOLS_....  _SAVE HIM_....  _Oh, He's Right!! How Could I Have Been So Stupid??!!_  

Pulling out her yo-yo and flinging it high into the air, she called out "Lucky Charm!!" and energy began shooting out from it, spinning around rapidly until it formed the tool she'd need.... which turned out to be a Suture Kit colored in the usual red with black polka dots.  _Thank God, something immediately useful_. Quickly, she opened it and instantly retrieved a wet cloth, thread and needle, lifting up his bloodied shirt as high as it would go before she cleaned the area around his wound, so as to get a better grasp of how bad it actually was. After assessing it, she threaded the needle and began stitching it back up,  _good thing I'm a seamstress otherwise I don't think I'd be able to do this properly_ , then finishing off her work with a bandage and gauze. Once that was finished she slumped in relief, sighing aloud, turning her sights back to the black Cat-Kwami who was now hovering over Adrien's head and watching him with an intensity she was all too familiar with.... it was the same look that Tikki gives her when she's badly injured. 

Closing her eyes for a moment, slightly shaking her head back and forth, she came to her second realization of the day: The Cat-Kwami, whatever his name is, was probably just as terrified as she was for Chat Noir.  _He was DYING after all.... it's only natural that the Kwami would forego the niceties when the life of the person you care about is on the line_. She sighed again, opening her eyes to stare at him,  _really I can't blame him for screaming at me like he had... after all, I was just sitting here crying like an idiot, without a freaking clue of what in the hell to do_. This Kwami, he's the one who truly saved Chat's---Adrien's life, if he hadn't spoken up, her partner.... her love, would be dead and she was eternally grateful for the Cat-Kwami. 

"What's your name?" she asked tentatively, so as to not provoke him further. 

The Kwami sighed heavily, not taking his eyes off his charge as he spoke, only this time.... he sounded more tired than angry. "It's Plagg" 

She smiled fondly at him, "Thank You Plagg. He'd be dead if it weren't for you" 

Plagg shook his head somberly, "It's not over yet.... call out for your miraculous ladybug power"

Blinking owlishly at him for a few seconds, inwardly wondering why that was necessary before she decided to just roll with it. Truly, Ladybug had no desire to be on the receiving end to more of his ferocious screaming and name calling... so she simply compiled, picking up her Lucky Charm and tossing it into the air, "Miraculous Ladybug!" where it then reverted into energy and the usual swarm of ladybugs spread out to fix the damage done since the recent Akuma's creation. It wasn't until a group of them broke off from the rest and landed all over Adrien's body that she finally understood.... it was fixing him, healing the rest of his wounds to the point where he was no longer struggling for breath and even while out cold, his body relaxed in relief - _It healed him_  - not completely but enough to keep him off death's door. 

Ladybug was ecstatic, a large smile forming on her lips as her spirits completely lifted and a disbelieving laugh escaped her. Looking between Plagg and Adrien once again, "How? How did you know it could do that? Fix him, I mean" 

He eyed her for a second and it looked as if he'd wanted to ask her if she was stupid again, but instead he just huffed and rolled his eyes. "Better question. How did YOU of all people NOT know it could do that?" 

The question threw her for a loop but instead of biting back with a  _'How the hell was I supposed to of known it could do that?'_  simply frowned and shrugged at him. "I just didn't. I mean, it's not like the Ladybug-Miraculous came with an instruction manual, I've just been making it up as I go along.... so to speak" 

He groaned, sounding irritated as he pressed his paw into his face. "That's what Tikki's supposed to be for....." shaking his head, "You mean to tell me she didn't go over these things with you when you first put on the earrings?" 

"Uh... well...." Ladybug flashed back to the day she'd first met Tikki. 

 

**+++**

 

 _After leaving school, Marinette had gone back home and into her bedroom, complaining about her days events to herself,_  "I hate first days back at school..."  _until she saw a little box on her desk,_  "Huh? what's this doing here?" _when she opened it, there was a blinding glow that erupted from within. Once it cleared she saw the form of the Ladybug-Kwami materialize before her, though she hadn't realized what Tikki was at the time, so.... she panicked._ "Ahh! Help! It's a giant bug! A... a mouse! A... a bug-mouse!!!!" 

 _A wide-eyed Tikki, realizing this, tried to calm her down and explain the situation,_ "Everything's okay! Don't be scared!" 

 _Marinette however was having none of it as she continued to panic, screaming_ "Ahh! The bug mouse talks!"  _then proceeded to throw random objects that were within her reach at Tikki._  

 _While experty avoiding all aerial attacks, Tikki tried to once again make her Chosen see reason_. "Listen, Marinette. I know everything may seem a bit strange to you---" _her words cut off as her Chosen trapped her in a glass cup,_  "Okay, if that makes you feel safer....."  _the Kwami muttered, somewhat put-off, with a roll of her eyes._ Humans _, she thought dryly._

"What are you? and how do you know my name?" 

"Like I was trying to tell you, I am a kwami, and my name is Tikki. Now just let me explain----"  _she cut herself off mid-sentence as she realized, that her Chosen was once again not listening to her and attempting to open the trapdoor (her bedroom door) and call for help_. 

 _Marinette screamed down,_  "Mom! Dad!"  _forgetting the fact that neither of them were home right now._

 _Tikki, not realizing this fact either, panicked as well and attempted to stop her._  "No!"  _quickly phasing out of the glass and moving in front of her face,_  "I'm your friend, Marinette! You must trust me. Please! You're the only one who can stop the Stoneheart!!! As the new Superhero of Paris, you'll use the power of your Lucky Charm to save the city.... it is your duty!!!!----" 

"This must be a mistake! The only superpower I could possibly have is super-awkwardness...!!!"  _she paused in her rant for a moment as an idea struck her,_  "I know! Alya would know! That's my friend."  _she paused again at the term, considering they'd only just met that day..._  does that make them friends already?  _shaking the thought away, she decided to worry about that later._  "Well, at least I think she would... She loves superheroes! She'd totally be up for the job! You should totally go see her!" 

"But Marinette, you are the Chosen One!! It HAS to be you.... besides, it's not too complicated, I promise. All you have to do is find the Akumatized Object, break it, capture it and lastly----"  _she got cut off by her Chosen for the third time today and it was really starting to grate on the Ladybug-Kwami's nerves, if she were being completely honest with herself. Normally Tikki's very patient and understanding with her Human partners but this latest one was really starting to push it.... which was an incredible feat considering the countless others that had come before her. She had to give it to her, Marinette took the cake._

"Okay, yeah that sounds simple enough. So all I have to do is break the object where the  _whatcha-ma-call-it_  is hiding?"  _she asked as she tried on the red and black spotted earrings. Just to see of course, she wasn't REALLY going to be a Superhero of all things.... was she?_

 _Tikki was exasperated at this point,_ really why do Humans always find it so hard to just be quiet and LISTEN?"It's called an Akuma, you find the Object it's inhabiting, break it and then capture it and purify it"  _she found herself repeating._

"Got it! Capture it! And what's that charm thing you mentioned before?" 

 _She perked, excited at the idea of her Chosen finally taking in interest in her new powers, and totally forgetting that the girl skipped over the 'purifying' aspect of her job._  "The Lucky Charm! It's your secret superpower! You just call for it when transformed and it will give you an object to help you defeat your enemies!!" 

 _Marinette shook her head and covered her eyes with her hand._ "Aww... this is all going too fast, Tikki... I... won't be able to pull this off!" 

 _She quickly went to remedy the self-doubt her Chosen was exhibiting before it could take root. That was the last thing either of them needed._ "Trust yourself, Marinette. Just say: 'Spots On' when you want to transform.... but before that---" 

"Spots on?"  _the earrings instantly activated,_  "Whoa! What is happening?!"  _and she transformed into Ladybug for the first time._

 

**+++**

 

Smiling sheepishly at Plagg, rubbing at the back of her neck, she elaborated. "She tried to... I mean... she really REALLY tried to but uh... I was kind've freaking out at the time and not listening to her at all so.... it's not her fault. Sorry" 

He groaned again,  _Humans,_ it reminded him of his own first experience with his Chosen... well, except for the freaking out part.  _Adrien didn't freak out, he wasn't listening but at least he didn't freak out._  That's all Plagg can say about that, and if he were being honest with himself - which he usually wasn't - then he'd admit, that if the kid had started to freak on him, he wouldn't've had a clue as to what to do. 

"Alright fine. I'll explain it then." he muttered, seeming reluctant but continuing anyways. "The 'Miraculous Ladybug' power you possess is  _'as you know'_  capable of reversing all damage when summoned, not just the damage caused by Akuma's or Chat Noir's cataclysm. But apparently what you DIDN'T know was that it can also heal the wounded and even bring back the dead... that last one being within a certain time frame after said death.... but don't go around thinking it's fine to let people die just cause you can bring em' back. Okay?" 

Once again Ladybug found herself in wide-eyed shock and not really knowing what to say to that. She could bring back the dead??!! So.... even if Chat---Adrien had.... died.... he.... she could've revived him? That, that was---- "Y-Yeah... okay. I understand, I won't. Promise" 

Plagg once again eyed her, this time looking as if he could see right into her soul before nodding in approval. "As long as you understand.... now, onto more important topics - Adrien's lost too much blood. You need to get him to the hospital" 

She balked at that, "B-B-but... the hospital? isn't that dangerous? what if they discover----?" 

Plagg waved her off and floated over to her, placing a paw on her forehead as he looked directly into her eyes. "He's de-transformed now. It's fine, quickly now! I'd carry him there myself if I could, but since I can't.... I need you to do it. So hurry the hell up, he'll survive but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't still get looked at by a professional.... just in case" 

Ladybug wanted to argue but thought better of it, biting her tongue and settling for just nodding at him.  _After all, between the two of us, he's the one who would know best... right?_  because she knew that her and Chat weren't the first to dawn the masks, and they most certainly won't be the last....  _plus the Kwami's have existed since the dawn of time soooo.... yeah_ ; adhering to the Cat-Kwami's words was probably their best bet. Getting to her feet, she carefully lifted Adrien up, cradling him in her arms, with his head once again pressed into her shoulder. Plagg floated over and nestled himself between the two of them but mostly pressed himself into the crook of his Chosen's neck, which,  _under entirely different circumstances_  the Cat-Kwami would've scratched out a few eyes before showing that kind of affection. Of course, all ones who actually knew this about him, could be counted on a single hand and Ladybug - thus far - was not one of them, so she thought nothing of the gesture other than,  _AWWWW SO CUTE!!!!_  which, if Plagg could've read her mind in that instant, would've hissed at her. 

 

**+++**

 

They made it to the hospital without incident - Plagg making himself scarce for the time being, cause you know....  _no one's supposed to know about him_  -  but once the hospital staff caught sight of one of Paris' heroes carrying a not-as-badly-wounded as before but still obviously-injured Adrien Agreste.... things took a turn for the 'WHAT THE HELL?' kind've thing as a few of the other patients all pulled out their phones - she knew what they were doing and why, but it still kind of grated on her nerves.  

One of the doctors - whose name she didn't catch - was the first to approach when she'd first stepped through the doors and thankfully, only asked a curt "What Happened?" 

Ladybug was forced to lie about the blonde's involvement in the latest Akuma incident, she didn't like it, but it was necessary - she knew - especially when Hawk Moth could be anywhere....  _anyone_. "He got caught in the crossfire. I did what I could for him but he's lost a lot of blood, please take care of him" All she got in response was a nod,  _which was fine by her_ , followed by the doctor calling out for the nurses to fetch him the various things he needed to tend to the celebrity. 

Once he was out of sight however, that's when the real chaos began, as she was instantly crowded by everyone within eyesight of her or in earshot of the loud screamings of: 

"OH MY GOSH IT'S LADYBUG!!!!" 

"SHE'S HERE!!! IN PERSON!!!!" 

"WAS THAT REALLY ADRIEN AGRESTE JUST NOW?!!" 

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM? IS HE GOING TO BE OKAY?" 

"LADYBUG!!! LADYBUG!!! HERE!!! HERE!!!! LOOK OVER HERE!!!!" 

"YOUR MY HERO!!!" 

"WILL YOU MARRY ME??!!!" 

"ARE YOU AND ADRIEN AGRESTE DATING??!!" 

"OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M BREATHING THE SAME AIR AS LADYBUG!!!!" 

"I GOT TO TOUCH HER!!! I'M NEVER WASHING MY HANDS AGAIN!!!" 

Ladybug winced at the onslaught of questions and phones being shoved into her face...  _Jeez, doesn't anyone know the meaning of personal space? Seriously!!! I may be a hero but that doesn't give you the right to freaking suffocate me!!!_  she screamed internally. There are some days where she really just wants to knock peoples heads together and scream, GET A LIFE!!!, but she digresses.  

 

_{Her earrings beeped once}_

 

Taking that as her cue to leave, she expertly jumped over all their heads and made her way to the door, "Sorry. Can't stay and chat, I've gotta go!" 

"ARE YOU GOING TO SEE CHAT NOIR??!!!" someone randomly called out just before she could book it out the door and just for the heck of it, called back with a "Yes!!", tossing her yo-yo out at the first ledge she saw and used it to propel herself onto the roof. 

 

_Let em' chew on that for a while._

 

Smiling to herself, she couldn't help but think about what Alya's going to say when she sees the pictures and videos later.  _Bug-Out, probably_.  _Hahaha._  Rolling her eyes,  _Oh great... now I'm the one using puns.... although, considering Chat----Adrien's usually the one tossing those around, and he's out of commission for the time being, I suppose I'm just trying to make up for the lack of bad-puns._ She took a moment of pause to really think about that -  _ **Damn**_. She never truly realized how badly she'd miss her partner if he couldn't be there, before today.  _Guess it's true... you really never do know what you've got until it's gone...._  But thankfully, Chat wasn't gone and neither was Adrien, and she took comfort in that. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I took a few liberties with the "Origins Transcript" off of the "Miraculous Wiki" and added in a lot of content that I'm pretty certain wasn't in the series.... Lol. I feel like an over-achiever Hahaha. - Ignore me.


	3. Coming to Terms [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically they're all trying to come to terms with their situations. 
> 
> LB with Adrien's identity and her love for Chat and Adrien as a whole.   
> Plagg that he almost lost his Kitten.   
> Adrien that he almost died and didn't even realize it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize. This was supposed to be one chapter but I wasn't allowed to post it all together - so I broke it up. It's now 2 parts. - I'm not happy about it.

_**Three days have passed since the incident.**_  

 

 _ **Adrien hasn't been at school.**_  

 

 _ **Chat Noir hasn't been seen in public.**_  

 

 

Not that Marinette had expected to see either one, since apparently, they're the SAME person!!!!  _WHAT??!!_   Which is still kind of a difficult pill to swallow, if she's being honest with herself.  _I_ _mean... really, how? How in the world is this possible??!! It's just... so bizzare!!! Adrien was the LAST person on this earth I'd of ever expected to be Chat Noir. IMPOSSIBLE!!!! INCONCEIVABLE!!!! and yet.... he is._  

He is and Marinette still has no idea what to think or feel about that at all, not even with the three full days she's had to think it over and process that information - no matter how she tries to spin it in her head it's like the pieces to this particular puzzle don't FIT together, despite coming from the same box!!!  _Adrien and Chat Noir, they're just... so different from each other!!! They are nothing alike!!!_  she continued to protest in her own mind, trying her damndest to keep the two boys - who are apparently, the same boy - seperate from one another and had she of asked a third party about this conundrum of her's, they'd probably tell her that she's overreacting and that it's not as bad as she thinks it is. 

Actually, that's what Tikki's been trying to convince her of since everything went south....  _what she's still trying to convince Marinette of_. Perched atop of the bed, Tikki watched Marinette as she paced the room restlessly, worrying her bottom lip and looking as if she was going to either scream or cry in frustration. Or perhaps both but that wasn't what was concerning her at the moment. "Come on, Marinette...." the Ladybug-Kwami pleaded with her Chosen, "I know discovering Chat's identity was a shock,  _considering the circumstances he was revealed under,_  but really now. It's been three days!!! This is Adrien we're talking about. Your Adrien!!! Nothing has changed, he's still the same person. Mask or no mask" she tried to reason, whilst knowing full well that her Chosen was simply in denial. 

Marinette didn't stop her frantic pacing and only waved her hands around in the air at her words, as if that would make them any less true, somehow.... she really truly didn't WANT what Tikki was saying to be the truth,  _because then---then---then_..... exhaling deeply, she hung her head and then proceeded to fling herself backwards onto her chaise longue with a groan. "It's just not FAIR Tikki!!! Why did it have to be HIM??!! of all the people in Paris.... why Adrien Agreste? Just why??!!! AGH I have the worst luck!! which is, you know, IRONIC since I'm literally the embodiment of Good Luck!!! Hah!!!" 

Tikki sighed, shaking her head at the girl. _Yup, total denial_. "Marinette!" there was something in the Kwami's tone that caused the ravenette to halt in her panicked ramblings - Tikki rarely ever used that tone of voice with her, and when she does, it's usually because her little red and black spotted companion was exasperated with her. And that is what ultimately lets Marinette know that she's either screwed up, or done something wrong despite knowing the right way to go about it.... like the time she'd stolen Adrien's phone. That.... that wasn't one of her proudest moments and Tikki wouldn't even glance in her direction for a full night -  _it was torture_. 

"Tell me" she flew over to her Chosen, hovering in front of her face with those wide, dark blue eyes that silently implored the girl to help her understand her thought process on the issue - as in, why the hell this was such an issue to the mortal to begin with. "Tell me why, Mari!!! Why is Adrien being Chat such a problem to you??!! What about this situation is so horrible? Why are you refusing to accept him for who he is? Because I don't understand this; I can't understand  _you_  right now. Adrien----he's _everything_  you've ever wanted, for so long!! except you've always believed he was beyond your reach.... well guess what? as it turns out, he's really NOT that far out of reach, now is he? He's been by your side this ENTIRE time!! And Chat---- he LOVES you and I mean really really truly LOVES you Mari!!! He ADORES you, he PROTECTS you, three days ago he was willing to DIE for you. ADRIEN was willing to die for YOU!!! Even I can see that, so why? Please, explain it to me!" by the end of her rant, Tikki looked as if she were on the verge of tears as her eyes watered and tried to catch her breath back.... looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. 

It broke Marinette's heart to see her companion brought to such a state, because of her and her stupid -  _pointless_  - issues with everything concerning a certain partner slash crush of hers. Sighing aloud and closing her eyes, "Oh Tikki" reaching out, cupping the Kwami in her hands and holding her close in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm sorry. Truly. I---I never meant to upset you... and I don't mean to reject him for who he is.... it's just.... it's just that, I don't know what to think anymore. I really don't" 

Although, even as she says that, the gears in Marinette's mind began to turn.  _Chat Noir.... he's.... my friend, my partner!!!! he's brave, courageous and strong, he's flirtatious and charming when he wants to be, quick-witted, noble and self-sacrificing, wild and cocky beyond imagining, loyal to a fault and completely (predictably) unpredictable. Whereas Adrien.... he's.... my friend yeah but he's also my crush!!! he's kind and compassionate, he's sweet and shy and awkward, humble, patient and understanding, a total dork and such a nerd when it comes to the things he loves, brilliant.... and oh so very predictable._

 _Polar Opposites_  •  •  •  •   _And Yet, Not_

 _Oh who the hell was I trying to fool? Tikki was right, of course she was right._  When she thought about it----and by that, meaning, REALLY thought about it without her usual bias towards either of them.... it was glaringly, painfully obvious. _Chat and Adrien, Adrien and Chat, they're both exactly the same. There really weren't THAT many differences between them and honestly the only thing that ever truly separated them, was the way they acted in and out of costume. Nothing has actually changed with the blonde.... just with me and my idea of how the world should work._ But that was selfish - she knew - who was she to tell Adrien or Chat how they're supposed to act? especially when it comes to the mask. Hell, even SHE knows that she acts somewhat different when wearing the mask; less clumsy, more confident and daring, not stuttering around people when speaking.... just a better version of herself, the her that she wishes that she could be even outside of the mask. 

Then a sudden thought struck her,  _what if it's the same thing with Adrien? what if how he acts as Chat is his better version of himself? if that's how he wishes he could be even without his mask...._  for some reason, the idea of that broke her heart all over again. 

"Tikki....?" 

"Yes, Marinette?" 

She worried at her bottom lip, staring down at her companion still cradled in her hands, "I figured it out" 

The Ladybug-Kwami looked up at her Chosen, "Figured what out?" 

"The reason why I was so against Adrien being Chat Noir." she glanced over to her wall, which held many pictures of Adrien Agreste modeling in various outfits and positions, smiling in what she used to think was a natural and brilliant smile... but now, it looks so fake that it hurts to even look at it. Sighing out loud, "It's because I had this perfect little picture of him in my head, of how I thought he was supposed to be, just because that was the only side to him that I'd ever seen. I put him up on a pedestal... which wasn't fair... it _isn't_  fair to him, because now I know that there is so much more to him than that - there's so much about him that I never knew; maybe never really cared to know, because then he wouldn't fit the box I'd stuck him in - I had a certain amount of expectations that I've unknowingly burdened him with.... I didn't even try to look past the surface and just took everything about him at face value."  _I'm an idiot,_  she determined,  _a f*cking oblivious idiot_. 

Tikki smiled up at her Chosen, "Oh Mari." she floated up and nuzzled at her cheek, making the ravenette laugh just enough to lift the mood. "I'm sure that if you asked him, really asked him, Adrien would open up more.... both to Marinette and Ladybug. Just take it slow, for his sake, after all... you may know who he is but he doesn't know who you are just yet. Okay?" 

Taking a deep breath in, then releasing it, smiling at her companion. "Yeah. Okay" and just then, an idea popped into her head, a mischievous smile on her lips, "Tikki. Spots On" 

 

**+++**

**_Meanwhile_ **

**+++**

 

"No" 

"Awww c'mon Plagg, it's already been three days!! How much longer are you expecting me to wait??!!" the blonde asked, exasperated, waving his hands dramatically in the air for affect. 

The Cat-Kwami's eyes narrowed at his charge, a slice of camembert in his paws, "I said, No" 

Rolling his eyes and sighing heavily as he shook his head, crossing his arms. "Ugh. You sound like my father!!" frowning in distaste at his own comment before practically whining, "You're gonna have to let me out sometime!!! What if there's an Akuma attack while Chat's grounded? Huh?! What then?" 

Plagg merely shrugged, chewing on his cheese as he eyed the boy carefully, taking in every detail to measure his physical and mental health. Thankfully, there hadn't been any lasting damage from the incident three days ago and true to form, Ladybug's ability to heal, took care of the worst of his kitten's wounds. Complying with the doctor's orders, after Adrien had been given a blood transfusion (and was kept overnight for observation), he was on a strict regimen of lots of bed-rest, drinking plenty of liquids, no strenuous activities: AKA - No school, work or socializing. And absolutely no leaving the house under any circumstances. Okay so Gabriel had taken a few liberties when it came to the rules, rather than just what the doctor had specifically said:  _"Now, Mister Agreste. I assure you that it is perfectly fine and safe for Adrien to walk around outside but I highly recommend that any travels be kept brief and that if he does intend to have friends over during his recovery, that they be certain to keep calm and not excite him too much"_

The color was slowly returning to his skin, his eyes were once again sparkling with life, his energy levels were moderate at best.... not his usual 100% but not as bad as before either.... his sarcasm and wit didn't suffer any damage at all - which both pleased and annoyed the black cat at the same time (though at the moment he was leaning more towards annoyed, what with how stubborn his kitten was being) and although it was true, that if there really was an Akuma attack happening, then he'd have no choice but to allow for Chat to make an appearance - no matter how bad of an idea he knows it would be - but he wasn't about to tell HIM that. 

"Meh. Ladybug's strong, she can handle it solo. No problem" he took three large bites of the cheese, thus, finishing it off. 

The blonde looked at his companion in disbelief. "Really? This coming from the guy whose always bitching to me about how she could  _'use more training'_ , how  _'she'd be nothing without US. Probably dead'_  and to  _'loosen up some'_??!!" he scoffed, "and now you're suddenly being supportive of her? Seriously, Plagg, what gives? Why are you suddenly giving her the Cat-Stamp of approval?" muttering under his breath,  _"Not that I'm really complaining... but, still...._ " 

Everything in the Cat-Kwami wanted to bite back with a scathing and perhaps sarcastic remark, but he reigned himself in with every ounce of willpower he had available to him.  _I don't want to fight with him right now, considering how he almost died three days ago.... how I almost LOST him three days ago...._  if not for Ladybug....  _if not for her_ , his chest swelled with unspoken emotion and his heart ACHED so much that it was physically hurting him right now. _M_ _y charge, my chosen, my companion.... my kitten.... damn it, kid._   _I can't lose another one, I can't lose you too_. 

A long moment of silence had passed between the two of them, neither saying anything, as Plagg's mind had become plagued by his thoughts and fears - whereas in Adrien's mind - the blonde was becoming increasingly concerned over his Kwami's unusual silence. 

"Plagg?" he tentatively reached a hand out and with the back of his fingers, gently caressed the fur of his companion's cheek, which seemed to of startled the cat back into reality. What Adrien noticed next was enough to make him pause in his accusations and soften the sharp edges that tended to come out when arguing with his companion.... whose eyes that were usually hard and unmoving.... are now wet and brimming with an emotion Adrien isn't used to seeing from him. It broke his heart. "Plagg?" he tried asking again, quieter this time, petting at his head-fur in an attempt to coax an answer out of the stubborn cat. "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" 

Tears pricked at the corners of Plagg's eyes but he refused to cry. Instead, he simply turned his head away and spoke with a forced bravado that not even HE could believe, let alone Adrien. "Wha---I---I don't know what you're talking about. I'm FINE. It's nothing, forget it!!!!! I just had a small lapse in judgement that's all. There's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG HERE soooo you can just.... shut up and go away!!! Leave me alone. That's what I want, to be left alone.... yeah and more cheese!!! Gotta always have more cheese!!! Never Enough Cheese!!! Ya Hear Me??!!!" 

Adrien worried at his bottom lip, stepping in closer to his floating companion, assessing him with narrowed eyes. "Plagg" he whispered, fingers once again brushing over the Cat-Kwami's head-fur and scratching gently behind his ears, "tell me" he continued to speak in whispered breaths, cradling his small form with his other hand, "please.... tell me what's wrong. I can't fix it if you refuse to tell me anything.... please....  _Papa-Chat_ " 

 

**That did it.**

 

A choked sob broke free from the stubborn cat's throat as he closed his eyes and let the tears he'd been previously holding back, slip out; unable to maintain his levitation, dropped fully into Adrien's hand, curling into himself with shuddering breaths. Adrien gaped in wide-eyed shock for a moment at this uncharacteristic show of emotion before jumping into action and walking them over to his bed - where he then proceeded to curl up into the blankets, whilst hushing and cooing softly. "Aww Plagg" he sighed to himself, the sight of his Kwami crying also bringing tears into his own eyes.  _Like the complete sap that he was_. "It's okay.... it'll be okay.... I promise.... everything's alright, I'm here---" at the mention of this, the black cat only proceeded to cry even harder and somewhat louder than before, which made Adrien freeze in his attempt at calming him.  _What's wrong? Why isn't he talking to me? Why is he suddenly having a meltdown on me?_ something clenched at his heart,  _there's something that I don't know.... something he won't tell me...._   _what could be so bad that it would have Plagg of all people acting like---like--- the apocalypse had occurred while I was out of commission!!_ _I mean, come on now. Everything is fine - despite the apparent trip to the hospital - but I'd only lost a bit of blood, it's not like I was dying or anything.... so what could possibly be----_ a sense of dread overcame him as a realization struck him fast and hard.  _Oh God._   _I..... I almost died didn't I??!!!! I almost DIED!!! AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING TO ME??!!_  

Adrien hadn't realized that his condition had been THAT bad. When he'd woken up in the hospital, all he'd been told was that he was in an accident (that he didn't remember) how he'd apparently lost some blood and that.... it was LADYBUG who brought him in. The moment he was allowed, he'd grabbed his phone and looked on the internet for anything that could possibly give him an idea of what the hell had happened to him!!! 

All he could find however, were a bundle of pictures and one to three minute clips, that showed an unconscious and apparently beaten up Adrien Agreste in the arms of Ladybug - who was saying something to one of the doctors on duty that night. What was being said wasn't clearly heard in the majority of the clips since the people around them were chattering up a storm and speculating.... the ones that did catch them however, were along the lines of  _'caught in the crossfire'_ and  _'loss of blood'_  which explained why he wasn't awake when all that happened.... but still didn't really account for what happened before that.  _Caught in the crossfire_ could mean just about anything!!! What did His Lady mean by that? although what had really had him confused was the last clip he saw: It was of Ladybug trying to leave the hospital, then someone (maybe the person recording) asked if she was going to see Chat Noir.... which was instantly answered with a 'Yes' (that would normally make him happy and excited) except that HE was CHAT NOIR and His Lady just left him with the doctors, which means, that must mean.... does that mean that Ladybug  •   •   •   •  doesn't know he's Chat? 

 

That question plagued him, even still, three days later. 

 

 _Does she know? Does she NOT know? How would that even be possible? How c_ _ould she not know?_   _She's the one who brought me to the hospital in the first place, the only reason I'd be brought there is because I was hurt and the only reason I've ever gotten hurt was because I fought Akuma's as Chat Noir.... therefore she and I were fighting and I'd gotten injured badly enough to need hospitalization and it was Adrien who'd been brought in, not Chat, Adrien!! so then, wouldn't she of learned that Adrien was Chat Noir??_ It's possible - he knows - that she might not but, it feels unlikely to him. _If I de-transformed in front of her then she'd HAVE to know----_ then again _\----what if I didn't de-transform in front of her? What if.... what if she'd lost sight of me during the fight and I changed back after getting knocked out, and THEN Ladybug found me? possibly? ARG!! This not knowing is KILLING me!!!_ that last thought made him pause, and he came to the conclusion that, maybe it's just a bit too early to be saying things like that. He knows that if Ladybug had been able to hear that, she'd punch him. Hard. The mental image of that happening made him wince. 

Sighing and shaking the thoughts away, in order to get back into reality, he focused back onto Plagg who wasn't crying as loudly as before but he was still shaking and snuggling into his warmth. "Plagg" he whispered, petting at the Kwami's fur once again in an attempt to ease him. "It's okay. I promise.... it really is okay. I'm okay, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere.... so please.... please talk to me" he nuzzled his nose against the black cat affectionately. He discovered a long time ago, that if he acts like a cat and lays it on really thick, Plagg becomes this big open-and-honest softie. " _Papa-Chat~_ " the low whine he got in response told Adrien that he was close, just a few more nudges and the stubborn black-cat will finally give. Scratching behind his ears, nuzzling and petting all at once -  _shame I can't purr outside of the costume_  "I'm here. I'm alive,  _Papa-Chat_  and I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry that I scared you like that." his eyes burned from crying but they wouldn't stop flowing, "I can't promise I won't scare you like that again and as much as I hate to admit it I can't promise that I won't die either, because you know me - I'm reckless and wild and when it comes to protecting My Lady I'd do pretty much anything - but for as long as I'm alive, as long as I'm Chat Noir, you and me will be inseparable okay? I would never leave you by choice, I'd never give you up for anything; not even Ladybug. I don't have anyone else, you're the only one in my life that knows all of me and I am so damn grateful to have you in my life Plagg. Gabriel Agreste may be Adrien's father but as Chat Noir, you're my  _Papa-Chat_.... you're a better dad than mine ever was and I love you for that" 

 

**The Cat-Kwami finally broke.**

 

"I Almost LOST You!!!" he cried, paws over his eyes as he tried to dry his tears. "You could've DIED and I would've LOST you!!!!" 

Once again, Adrien tried to soothe his companion, hushing and cooing, nuzzling and petting. Plagg took deep breaths to try and compose himself but it was slow going, he was just that worked up and emotionally drained. This was why he didn't like to show emotion, it clouds his judgement and makes him sentimental - he can't afford sentimentality, it's much too painful - he's already lost so much in his lifetime.... losing Adrien.... losing ANOTHER kitten was just.... just not something he could handle. He wasn't ready and the kid certainly wasn't ready for something so permanent, hell, he was still only a CHILD for camembert's sake!!! He can't die. He just CAN'T. Not until he's lived his life to the fullest, until he was old and gray. "Chaton!!!" he bawled, eyes now open and zeroed in on his charge with that piercing green glare that the blonde was so accustomed to. "My Kitten!!! I almost lost you----you----you stupid, self sacrificing, love struck idiot!!! What am I supposed to do? What was I supposed to of done if it'd been too late Huh? What??!! What the hell do you expect me to do after you're gone?? Huh??!!! You stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid----" the rest of his sentence got slurred between whimpers and even more tears but the word 'stupid' was still loud and clear to Adrien's enhanced ears. 

He smiled fondly at the little black bundle in his hands, for all his talk and lack of proper social skills, this Kwami certainly had a loving heart. He cares - the blonde knows - even when he doesn't have the words to express it or the capacity to show it on a daily basis, in moments like these, Adrien knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Plagg loves him too. They make a good pair and no matter what bond he shares with the red and black clad heroine, Plagg is his first and truest partner and that will never change.  _ **Not Ever.**_

"Yeah. I'm stupid. You're right. Sorry, I'm sorry for being so stupid _Papa_ " the tightness in his chest finally eased. 

Paws started hitting him on his chest but they were light and simply fueled with the relief in knowing that his kitten was still there, still ALIVE and breathing and not dead. "You'd better be!! Because I am royally PISSED at you right now, you damn idiot!!!" 

His smile grew, "I deserve it, you have every right to be" 

"I demand at least 20---No, 30---Large Wheels of Camembert as compensation for all the emotional trauma you've put me through!!!!" 

He laughed, "You got it. I'll meet your demands, with interest. Promise" 

"And if you ever EVER scare me like that again, I won't forgive you!!! You know me!!! I can hold a grudge for CENTURIES!!!! Beg and plead all you like, I won't forgive you!!!!" it was a mock threat, at best, still..... 

"I'll try not to" again, he began to dry the tears off his companion's face and this time they didn't renew themselves. 

"GOOD" the cat huffed, "Now, I'm going to sleep. Because I'm exhausted" 

Again, Adrien laughed. "Alright. Goodnight  _Papa-Chat_ " 

Moving out of his Chosen's hold, Plagg floated over to the pillows and curled up under the blanket, "G'Night. Chaton"  _I swear, this human is going to be the death of me, I just know it_. 

 

 

**TO BE CONTINUED......**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Terms and Translations]
> 
> Chaise Longue = A seat for one, this sofa is a chair and footstool combined for the perfect downtime. It derives its name from the French for long chair. 
> 
> Papa = Dad. Daddy. (Means essentially the same thing in English and French)   
> Chat = Cat   
> Noir = Black   
> Chaton = Kitten 
> 
> [So, Papa added with Chat.... makes it Papa Cat or Daddy Cat or Cat Daddy - And NO there's nothing Kinky about it so get your dirty minds out of the gutter!!!!! They have a Father-Son relationship: A Father Cat who cares about his Kitten - I don't wanna hear anything sexual about it in the comments!!!! I know people like that exist!! I don't know who you are but I know you exist!!!]


	4. Coming To Terms [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is just so much to digest for these people. Why can't life ever be simple with them? Oh yeah.... cause then it'd be a super lame story otherwise, that's why. Hahaha. JK. (=^.^=)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still not happy about having to break up the chapter (>->) I think I'm gonna be ticked off about this for a while.  
> Apologies in advance for any attitude I'm giving off..... or will give off..... Ugh. Damn it. SMH.

 

 

**+++**

**Presently**

**+++**

 

 

As Ladybug made her way over to the Agreste Mansion, she carefully thought over everything that's happened to her since meeting both Chat and Adrien, of how he'd been beside her all this time and neither of them had even known it. She'd met Chat first, wasn't sure what to make of him but eventually got used to him.... and Adrien, she thought he was no better than Chloe, that they were the same and she hated him for it.... until that day in the rain when he gave her his umbrella and she fell in love with him. She thought about the two who were one and about how she'd always made it clear for them to never reveal themselves to each other, _no matter how often Chat had begged her otherwise,_  she had been firm in her decision and held fast to it - until the accident - where there had been no choice in the matter, no talking or discussing, just..... revealed unintentionally. They were off balance now.... or rather, SHE was the one off balance since it all happened so fast and under such dire circumstances.... she knew him now, all of him yet he still knew nothing of her. He had no idea that she - Ladybug - sat behind him in class, how she was actually in love with the part of him that she could never form a coherent sentence around. 

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop until she reached her destination, one final thought crossed her mind, the one she was still on the fence about but figured it was only fair.... if she knew who he was then.... it was only right.... for him to know her as well, right? It felt like the right choice but part of her was still terrified. The knowledge that Adrien is Chat makes telling him the truth even MORE daunting if that was possible!!!  _How would he react? What would he say? What would he think? Would he.... could he possibly accept ME of all people as Ladybug?_  After all, it had taken her THREE FREAKING DAYS to process, how long would it take him? It's just not as simple as she'd like it to be and that's what makes this entire thing so damn frustrating!! 

Sighing to herself, she made it to the window and peered inside. The lights were still on, so she could make out the Adrien's form on the bed and now that she knew Plagg also resided here, she could pick out the little lump just next to the blonde. It brought a smile to her face,  _too cute!!!_  Again, if Plagg had heard this thought, he would've hissed at her but this time, Adrien would've laughed and Ladybug would've been so confused. 

"Well.... it's now or never" 

 

**+++**

 

A knock on the window caused Adrien to jerk in his bed and snap his head to the side, to determine what caused the noise, only for his eyes to widen and mouth agape at the figure hanging just outside his room by the string of her yo-yo..... "L-L-Ladybug???!!!!!" quickly, he quite literally jumped from the bed and rushed over to open the window and greet her, "Ladybug??!!!" 

She smiled, cutely (In his opinion) and gave a small wave, "Hello Adrien.... are you.... is this a bad time?" her eyes narrowed as she took him in. His eyes were red, there were tear stains on his face, clothes crumpled and hair-----  _Oh My Gosh, He's Got CHAT NOIR Hair!!!!_  A tinge of red spread across her face. 

It took the blonde a moment to process the question, because LADYBUG was HERE at his window as if it were a casual and normal occurance!!!! "What?" He cleared his throat and quickly dried off his face, brushing his bangs out of his face "Oh... Y-yeah I'm.... I'm okay!! Totally okay!! Why---Why wouldn't I be okay? I mean... It's just um..... do---do you wanna come, come inside? maybe?" He shoved his hands awkwardly into the air and waved them around as if that would take back the words he'd just spoken "I-I mean, if you WANT to.... because like, you DON'T have to if you don't want to and----" he continuously stumbled over his words, reminding Ladybug of how she acts as Marinette around him. 

She'd known it, logically, that he was truly-seriously in love with her (because she was flat out told) but seeing it first hand, recognizing it and accepting it as more than just some meaningless-flirtatious come-on like she'd always assumed it was, when coming from Chat Noir.... the revelation hit her about as hard as the knowledge that Adrien and Chat were the same person. Chat loves her and.... Adrien, he LOVES her!!!!! Her crush loves her back!! It's not a one-sided love anymore!! He feels the same!!!  _Well, for Ladybug anyways, his relations with Marinette could use some---rather---a lot of work_. It was her own fault - she knew - because she, like Adrien just now, could barely get a coherent sentence out whilst in the company of said crush. They were the same in that respect and it made her smile - He really wasn't beyond her reach was he? 

"Adrien" she interrupted and he immediately shut his mouth, which was endearing and it made her smile all the more. "I'd like to come in" 

She heard his sharp intake of breath,  _as if he couldn't believe that she actually WANTED to come in_ , then watched as he nodded rapidly, moving off to the side to let her in - his arm sweeping towards his room at just the right angle, body at just the right posture, that it looked exactly like how Chat would either bow or present something to her. She blinked but didn't comment, she didn't want to scare him, especially given how utterly flustered he appeared to be at her mere presence - she wasn't that great was she? or was he just THAT infatuated with her? It's a toss up in her opinion. Another thing occurs to her, now that she knows what to look for; Ladybug's finally noticing the signs after all this time, the Chat behind his Adrien; the same self-sacrificing idiot that's been by her side.... the same boy that stole her heart. The one she almost lost. Forever. 

Dropping inside, untangling her yo-yo from it's hold and putting it away, she made her way over to the couch and made herself comfortable - as if this was a natural thing and she's always sat there - patting the seat besides her, "Care to join me?" she watched in amusement as he broke out of his apparent trance and hobbled his way over, almost tripping over his own feet. 

"Oh. Yeah, yeah.... sorry, I'm just uh.... I'm just a bit out of it right now, sorry" he rubbed at the back of his neck, a blush on his face. 

Her smile became sad as she cast her gaze downwards for a moment,  _a bit out of it huh? well it's no wonder... considering the amount of blood you've lost.... because of me._ She reminded herself bitterly. _If I'd been better, you wouldn't of taken the hit for me, wouldn't of been bleeding out in my arms.... wouldn't of almost died._ Looking back up to him, she eyed him as he nervously glanced over to his bed where she assumed Plagg was sleeping but she pretended to not notice. This was like, the fourth or fifth revelation by now as the gears in her mind turned,  _Wait.... does he....? Does Adrien not know, that I know the truth? But how...? How's that even possible? How could he not know? I mean, If he's internally freaking out about my seeing his Kwami, then doesn't that entail that he doesn't know?? Didn't Plagg tell him? Would Plagg of told him??? Oh, this throws a wrench into my plans..... **damn it**. _  

"Uh... L-Ladybug?" his words cut through the silence like a knife and she gave all her attention to him, "Not---not that I don't want you here or that I don't like you being here but... um, why...? exactly are you here?" 

That question alone was enough to erase any doubts about the situation at hand - _somehow, he doesn't know_. "Oh" her face tinged red again, "I uh...." she laughed quietly, a tinge of nervousness in it. Now that it was glaringly obvious to her that Adrien in fact DIDN'T know that SHE knew the truth about him, that just made this entire encounter change from the original honest-talk she was going to give him to winging it. Which was annoying as hell. 

Originally: she was going to look at him the same way she'd look at Chat, tell him that he scared the living hell out of her, call him an idiot and maybe hit him for good measure, then she'd smile at him and they'd both laugh.... he'd apologize and tell her something along the lines of  _'Forgive me My Lady, but I just couldn't stand by and watch the Akuma hurt you, I had to do something. I needed to protect you'_ , she'd roll her eyes but hug him tightly anyways and tell him  _'Don't you ever scare me like that again'_ , then he'd smile, make some stupid cat-joke in the form of a promise that he won't be able to keep.... simply because he's a stupid wild-cat whose too reckless and overprotective for his own good, then she'd de-transform in front of him and await his response. If positive, then great!! If not, she'd give him the time he needed to process and then, that would be that and they'd go on with their lives, working out anything that needs working out and everything'll be fine. 

Except now all that had just been shattered into a bajillion pieces and dumped out the nearest window.  Agh. Just her luck -  _Again, the IRONY!!!! Hahaha!!_  

"I just..." in place of all that, she simply settled for the next best thing. "I wanted to check in on you. See how you were doing" which was the truth, not the whole truth but really one of the main reasons she had come in the middle of the night. 

His eyes widened, as if it surprised him - which by now she knows it does - a small, shy smile graced his lips... this one was indeed natural, it was simple.... it was him. Not the model smile. The painfully fake one she'd always taken at face value.... but no more, he deserves better from her than that. "Oh! I-I'm, I'm okay!! I'm fine!! The doctors took real good care of me, gave me a transfusion and I've been resting the past couple of days here in my room, which is actually really boring, I'd rather be at school.... I've got these really amazing friends who're probably all worried about me. There's Nino and Alya and Marinette and well, pretty much everyone else whose in my class but I'm closer to those three more than anyone and.... I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry. It's just that, I haven't spoken to another human being directly in so long that I'm kinda sorta losing it right now. Okay, I'll shut up now" he laughed, once again rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly, blushing and avoiding eye contact. 

If she were being honest, her brain kind of fritzed out at the mention of her name and the word FRIENDS in the same sentence.  _Friends? They were friends? Adrien considered her a friend? As Marinette and not just Ladybug? Really??!!! This was the best news she's heard all day!!!_  then she came back to herself once he mentioned her as being the only direct HUMAN contact he's had since being released from the hospital. _Only human huh? Guess that means the only interaction's he's had were with Plagg_ , the knowledge of that broke her heart somewhat - once he was allowed outside again, her, Alya and Nino were SO taking him out somewhere for some fun. Totally, this boy needed it! 

Smiling at him again, "It's fine" cupping his face in her hands, she felt him tense for a second before relaxing again. Was he not used to being touched so familiarly? Then she remembered the lack of human contact while stuck here. Again, she felt her heart break for the blonde. Kwami's are certainly great companions, they didn't fill the need for socializing the same way another human being does. "I like it when you ramble" his face went very very red at that and she couldn't help but laugh.  _So Freaking Cute!!!_  but sadly.... it was serious-time. "Now really.... how are you doing? Honestly" 

The question seemed to of thrown him for a loop and suddenly he was at a loss for words. "Uh, I uh.... I'm...." he avoided eye contact for a few moments but she didn't push, letting him take his time. _He'll talk when he's ready,_ she determined, in the meantime she allowed for her fingers to tangle into his hair and gently caressed the soft golden locks. Adrien blinked slowly as she did this, looking for all the world like a child whose tired but refuses to go to sleep -  _WAY TO ADORABLE, IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!!!!_  - then his eyes fully closed and Ladybug was afraid that he'd really fallen asleep until he began talking, "I'm.... confused" 

"Confused?" she parroted, tilting her head to the side even though he couldn't see her, "Confused about what?" 

His brows furrowed, "About my trip to the hospital.... how I ended up there and just.... about everything that happened that day." He then opened his eyes and locked green with blue, "Ladybug....." he reached a hand up and placed it over her own that was still playing with his hair, "all I really know about the incident is what I was told but.... even that wasn't much and most of it I had to dig up on the internet. So that's the only reason why I know, that you're the one who brought me in, who saved me from I don't even know what----" 

Her eyes widened,  _wait.... so it's not just the the identity reveal that he doesn't remember? he doesn't remember what happened at all that day??!! how he took a critical hit for her, how he'd almost bled out in her arms, how.... he'd almost died? Oh dear God._  This, she was not expecting this at all.  _Then again, he was on the brink of death so.... I suppose, it's not that big of a stretch to believe that...._   _he wouldn't remember._ Still, it kind of hurt her to think he'd forget something like that. 

"----I'm not allowed to leave the house just yet and the only ones who truly know what happened that day are probably you and Chat Noir.... and since you're here!!!" his eyes turned pleading as he continued to stare intently at her, "Ladybug, I'm asking you. Would you please,  _please_  tell me what happened? It's driving me crazy not knowing.... please? I---I didn't get Akumatized did I? that.... that's not the reason why I can't remember anything is it? please tell me I didn't do something terrible!!" 

The panic in his voice was honest enough, though, had she of not known any better, Ladybug would've thought that the fear of Akumatization was only natural---normal for any civilian.... only.... he wasn't a civilian was he? He was just like her, he was a Hero of Paris, he was her Partner, her Other Half. He was the one fighting beside her all this time, therefore, it was impossible for him to of been the one attacking the city  _and he of all people would know that_.... but to an outsider, someone who didn't know the truth about him, they'd probably think it was just as likely an option as anything else. _Which was probably the point_. Chat Noir, her clever little kitten was fishing for information and protecting his secret at the same time and under any other circumstances she would've been highly impressed by him.... only right now.... it was a huge inconvenience. She silently wished that he would slip up - say or do anything that would directly out him as the Cat Themed Hero that he was; she knew he wouldn't, would never, but it was a nice thought all the same.  _Makes me wonder what story he's going to spin to me as Chat Noir later on.... once he's back in the game again that is - That should be fun_. 

For now though, she decided to play along and see where acting oblivious will get her. She shook her head, using her most placating tone possible, "No. It's okay, you didn't get Akumatized, you didn't hurt anyone. Promise" 

At this, Adrien breathed out in relief, shoulders slumping out of their tense posture she hadn't noticed him take on, smiling happily at her. "Oh Thank God!! I don't know what I would've done if I had been.... the thought alone scares the shit out of me....." 

 _Either he is a better actor than I gave him credit for or he was genuinely concerned he'd hurt someone - obviously he hadn't been Akumatized, so that could only mean he was worried that his Cataclysm did something unintended, which, okay yeah.... that's a reasonable thing to worry about.... especially when you can't remember what the heck happened,_  she mused to herself. 

"There  _was_  an Akuma attack however"  _I hate that I have to continue lying to him, but he's forcing my hand._ "Chat Noir and I were fighting, things got way out of hand and he was badly injured---" Adrien winced at that, she noted "---he, the attack was meant for me!!! but the stupid cat decided to try his hand as a human shield and, and then he...." her voice trailed off, averting her eyes to the floor.  _This was going to be harder than I thought_. "I couldn't do anything to help him and the Akuma was still attacking, it was chaos. Eventually, I managed to hurt it enough that it was forced to retreat.... but still I didn't have the time or the energy to go after it because I needed to check on Chat and then, that's when I found you..... bleeding on the concrete and---and---and I----"  _I held you as you bled, dying in my arms, just barely holding on._  

Ladybug hadn't realized when her body started trembling, or when she'd started to cry, or even when Adrien had moved in closer, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. A voice in the back of her head told her that she shouldn't be doing this, showing weakness, especially not in front of the so-called-civilian, yet here she was doing just that.... because he's not a civilian, he is her Partner.... he is the only one in this world that she would ever dare to be vulnerable in front of, no matter what side of the coin was being displayed. He had her explicit trust. "Chat was hurt.... you were hurt but I wasn't able to do anything on my own! You could've died if you hadn't gotten the help you needed in time and it would've been my fault!!! I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry Adrien, I-I failed you...." 

In this instance, he was reminded of how his Kwami had only just recovered from his own emotional breakdown and now it seems like it was His Lady's turn - only, she seemed to be less stubborn about it - and this time, he was more prepared to deal with the sudden shift in emotion. Same as before, he kept his voice low and tone gentle. Rubbing soothing circles into her back, hushing  and cooing and placating, "Hey! Hey! Shhh. It's okay, I'm okay!!! I'm here. I'm here, everything's okay Ladybug. It wasn't your fault, I know it, it could never be your fault"  _My Lady,_  "It's the Akuma's fault. It's Hawk Moth's fault!! If anyone's to blame, it's that sonofabitch who keeps coming after you and Chat Noir---" 

The mention of Chat Noir seemed to of been the straw that broke the camel's back, because now His Lady was crying even MORE. "Chat!! Oh God, Chat!! My Kitten. I haven't seen him at all since that time.... I'm so worried about him, his wounds.... they were bad.... so bad that they were probably even worse than yours and there was all that blood, so much blood----" 

The blonde was hit with a sudden flash of guilt,  _Oh no._  No no no no no,  _Ladybug.... please don't cry! Chat Noir is fine!! He's just fine!!! I'm right here..... but you couldn't know that....._  oh how he desperately wished right then and there that he could just come clean and reveal his identity - Plagg would kill him but it would be worth it - if only to ease the worries of His Lady. _I'm here, I'm right here Partner and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.... so don't worry, I'll get better as fast as I can and then.... then I'll be sure to flaunt myself around town for a bit just to let people know that I'm still alive and kicking. I'm sorry My Lady, I'm so sorry I scared you like that_. He truly felt bad, because this was the second person in his life who really truly and honestly cares about him (apparently also both sides of him) and watching them breaking down over him - someone like him who'd always felt unworthy of his place at her side and of his title as a Hero of Paris - was heartbreaking. **It tore him apart inside.**  

"----what if I never see him again? w-what if... if.... if he's----" Adrien knew where this was going but he didn't want her to say it, didn't want her to think it but, what could he do? The only way to ease her conscious would be to outright tell her and that, unfortunately, wasn't an option right now. "What if he's dead??!!" 

 

 _He's not, because I'm not._   

 

Ladybug buried her head deeper into the crook of Adrien's shoulder, trying to catch back her breath - even despite knowing that Adrien/Chat was fine, wounded but alive, the thought of losing him, the thought of his death was too much and she couldn't help but cry. It hurt, it hurt so damn much to think that he could've died that night; that she was the reason he'd almost died. _I'm sorry Chat, I'm so so sorry...._  her grip around him tightened. 

 

_I'll make this up to you Kitten, I promise._

_I'll make this up to you Bugaboo, I promise._  

 

 

**+++**

 

Once she'd calmed down enough, Ladybug smiled at the blonde, who was still watching her intently in case of a relapse. There wasn't going to be one though.... at least not until she confronts him again as Chat and says all the things that she really wanted to say. 

"I'm sorry. That was totally uncool, completely unprofessional behavior!!" she leaned away from him and averted her eyes. "I'm so embarrassed... you... you must think I'm pathetic now..." 

Adrien's eyes hardened at that, shaking his head and reaching out to cup her face, forcing her to look back at him again. "No. Don't apologize and don't be embarrassed. It's okay. It must've been rough on you these past few days.... what with the not knowing but, it is totally and completely okay for you to feel this way. You're not pathetic!! I---I don't judge you, I would NEVER judge you for it. You---you're always so strong, always doing your best for the people around you, so every now and again, you should allow yourself a break.... give yourself the time necessary to take care of YOU, forget about the rest of the world for a while. Alright?" 

Ladybug blushed as she stared into his piercing green eyes, eyes that held such conviction and intensity, so much so that she found it impossible to look away. The way he was looking at her, like she was all that mattered to him in this world, caused a warmth to spread in her chest and her face became even more red. "Th-thank you.... Adrien. I, that means a lot to me" The smile she received was probably the most brilliant, radiant and honest smile she had ever gotten from the blonde, as Ladybug and Marinette combined. It set her heart racing and for a moment, she was afraid that her Partner - with his enhanced hearing - would be able to tell and that just made it race all the more. _Damn I love this boy._  

"Anytime" he whispered in such a way that Ladybug swore in that moment, that she could clearly hear the unspoken _'My Lady'_  that would've most definitely come after, if he'd been in costume. It was at this moment her heart changed from racing to soaring and her stomach did little flips.  _Oh gosh, why is it suddenly so easy to see Chat Noir in him?? It's so freaking obvious now!!! How could I have been so STUPID??!! So BLIND??!!_  It was pretty much driving her insane at this point. She wanted to ask him so many things, she wanted to blurt out everything that was going through her head!!!! Instead, she simply offered a closed eyed smile, internally freaking out but outwardly calmer now. 

A moment of comfortable silence passed between them, with the two simply sitting there on the couch, their hands idly by their sides until Ladybug inched her's closer to his. Adrien's heart stuttered when he felt her gloved fingers brush against his own and he mentally took a double take, wondering - not for the first time tonight - if this was real or just the most lucid and vivid dream he's ever had!!!! Because this situation here, with him and His Lady, was beyond surreal and he never wanted it to end. Another blush creeped up his face, his body feeling hot all of a sudden when he found that he was now fully holding hands with her!!! He Was Holding Her Freaking Hand!!!! DA~MN!!! What made this even more.... was the fact that when he eyed their linked hands out of his peripheral vision, then to her in turns, he realized with this indescribable sense of joy that SHE was also blushing as uncontrollably as he was!!!! He didn't think his heart could beat any faster than it already was but now it was hammering in his chest so much he was afraid it might explode!!!  _Oh, Dear God, This Woman Is Too Much For Me_. Feeling daring in that moment, he took a chance and squeezed the hand holding his just to see how she would respond.... she squeezed back --- She Squeezed Back!!!! --- his blush intensified, _I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THIS!!! Why couldn't this of happened while I was Chat Noir? At least then I could feel secure enough to at least TRY and be romantic, or say something flirty, do something other than just sit here blushing like an idiot!! Ugh. Idiot, I really am an idiot._  Not really knowing what he could do as Adrien without seeming too much like Chat, he decided to go with something simple yet natural for both his persona's. Delicately, he raised her hand up, watching as her eyes snapped over to him curiously, he smirked, then placed a kiss to her knuckles. 

She stared at him with bated breath, internally freaking out all over again, he looked so much like Chat in this moment it was physically killing her!!! The way his eyes were gleaming lovingly and yet mischievously at the same time, his mannerisms and for Heaven's sake, His HAIR!!!! Chat Noir hair at it's finest if not a couple of inches shorter!!!! At this point, all he was missing was the cat ears and tail!!! --- If you had asked her a week ago how she felt about Adrien Agreste, she would've said that she loved him. If you had asked her a week ago how she felt about Chat Noir, she would've said that he was a great friend but she didn't love him romantically. But if you asked her right here and now, how she felt about the two blondes who were secretly one, she'd say.... that she loved them both, equally.... and that was the honest to God truth. She loved him, all of him. _I wish I'd of figured it out sooner_. 

Once he lowered her hand back down, she smiled warmly at him, reaching out her free hand to caress his hair, enjoying the way he suddenly became self conscious and shied away from her gaze. It was so cute. She laughed happily, her fingers continuously threading themselves into his golden locks, brushing the bangs from his eyes as they fell over them... which in turn caused Adrien to close his eyes in contentment.  _The both internally swore that if he was in costume at this moment, he would be purring up a storm_. The hair-petting continued to the point where Adrien's head was bobbing, struggling to remain upright, so Ladybug gently guided him down until his head was resting in her lap, his body stretched out across the remainder of the couch. As he let Ladybug play with his hair, eyes closed and both of them completely at ease with each other, he wondered internally if she'd ever consider doing this to him as Chat Noir -  _that would be nice_. 

He yawned loudly and stretched in a manor that reminded Ladybug of a cat (=^.^=)  _Hahaha._  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her own observation... the last thing she needed to have to explain was why she was comparing the Civilian-Clad-Cat-Themed-Hero to an actual Cat - No matter how funny she thought it was - then another thought struck her,  _how much of a cat is he?_  well in any case... now was not the time to test her theory, maybe later, perhaps when he's Chat Noir. That way when she does, it won't be as much of a  _'what the hell'_  moment as it would be to a  _'normal civilian'_ (that he is not) 

She smiled fondly at him, "Tired?" 

He blinked, shaking his head, "Tired? Me? No way! What gave you that idea?" smirking playfully before yawning again. 

She laughed. "Not tired huh?" she teased. 

His face went beat red as he avoided looking at her, "Well yeah okay, I might be a little bit tired but there's no way I'm going to sleep!!!" 

"Okay, if you say so..." she smiled again, a hint of knowing in her tone "but if you do fall asleep, then you owe me a cookie!!!" 

He laughed, "A cookie, Huh?" smiling up at her. She reminded him of Plagg just then. 

"Make that three" 

"Upping the ante are we? Also, aren't you being just a little bit presumptuous here? What happens if I win?" 

The mischievous gleam in her eye sent chills down his spine, in the best way possible "Hmm" she said in mock-thought. "Well if you win....." her lips quirked, "I'll.... give you a kiss" 

"a.... a  _k-k-k-kiss?_ " The red returned to his face with a vengeance, "I-I won't!" he denied once again. "I definitely won't fall asleep!!" 

She laughed. _We'll see,_  she thought idly  •   •   •   •  An hour later, that was primarily composed of more hair-petting, Ladybug watched as Adrien fell asleep on her lap. Smiling to herself, she mentally jeered,  _called it!!!_ except her victory was short lived as she continued to stare at his sleeping face, just listening to him breathe and thanking God that he's still alive.  _I came this close to losing you, I'll never let something like this ever happen again, I won't lose you.... I can't._

"I'm sorry Adrien---Chat. From now on, I'll do better.... I'll be better, for you, Partner. I promise." she whispered into his ear, brushing the bangs away from his eyes one last time and placing a kiss to his cheek affectionately. 

 

" _Goodnight, Chaton_ " 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know the Translations for "Chat", "Noir" and "Chaton" by now, go look at previous chapters or Google it, cause I'm not gonna repeat those three anymore when Translating French to English. Okay? Okay! (^-^)


	5. Making It Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think I gave myself the feels writing this - also - I wrote this instead of sleeping. It's 1:13 in the freaking morning!!! Why do I do this to myself??!! Oh yeah, cause I'm insane that's why. Lol. JK. 
> 
> Anyways: Okay so... I figured out why the website wouldn't let me make the last chapter long so... I'm not angry anymore XP Though, I've decided to just leave the last chapter as it is - broken into 2 parts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank You for being patient with me (^-^) I truly appreciate it!! 
> 
> Same as usual, Please don't use the word "Fuck" in the Comment Section! I may use it for writing purposes but I don't particularly like (hearing/reading) it.

 

"FREEDOM!!!!" Chat Noir screamed at the top of his lungs as he maneuvered across the rooftops of Paris, smiling like a maniac as he happily ran and jumped and launched himself into the air with his baton in turns, the brisk morning air biting into his exposed skin and wind ruffling his already unruly hair. His heart beating fast as his body rushed with adrenaline, breathing in the familiar scent of the city with his enhanced senses, eyes darting to and fro to absorb everything that the outside world had to offer. "Damn I've missed this!!!!" he excitedly cheered as he once again vaulted himself over the alleyways, landing with cat-like grace before repeating the process over and over again until he reached his destination: The Eiffel Tower. 

He sat himself along the steel beams, as high as he could manage without the risk of losing his footing, laughing loudly and completely loving how his voice echoed back at him in the quiet of the more earlier hours of the day, because 6AM was an ungodly hour to be prancing about on rooftops - or so Ladybug always tells him whenever he by-the-grace-of-God manages to talk her into an early morning run, just for the heck of it - today though, today was different. After seven days of being under house arrest, Adrien was deemed well enough to go back to school and Chat was cleared for Hero-Duty!!!! "YYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!" he howled at the sky, his entire being thrumming with unadulterated, excited energy. 

There were really no words that could describe his own absolute joy at being able to leave the house again, a quantum-supercomputer calculating for a thousand years could not even approach the percentage of how elated he was at this very moment in time!!!! "AHHH!! IT'S GOOD TO BE ALIVE!!!!!" Chat gleefully cried out, stretching his arms over his head before slumping back against the cold metal of the tower, eyes scouring everything in view of his position and taking everything in. 

An hour of simply sitting there passed before he managed to calm himself down, certainly it was a relief to finally be back in the world again but he knew that he had to settle himself before school started today  _(less he have to explain to everyone exactly why he was so stupidly happy)_ sure they all probably knew by now that he'd been in an accident - a bad one - but they weren't aware of the sheer dread, the helplessness he'd felt when he learned he couldn't leave the house, not even as Chat Noir!!! It was torture!!! plus it made him even lonelier than usual, he'd been on complete lockdown, isolated.... and he nearly had a panic attack over it, feeling like a beast trapped in a cage, subjected to the confines of those four walls.... if Ladybug hadn't come to visit him at that time, he's fairly certain that he would've gone insane. 

Sure he wasn't really  _alone_  per-say,  _he had Plagg_  but it really just wasn't the same,  _don't get me wrong, I love Plagg but he's... ugh... it's difficult to describe, he's more like a father figure than a friend and it was my friends that I really needed some time with, or just, another human being for that matter_. He winced at the thought as he remembered his blabbering to Ladybug four days ago and frowned,  _IDIOT!!!_  he internally scolded himself,  _what the hell was I thinking saying those things to her like that??!! Talking casually to her as if we were old friends.... well, of course they were old friends but.... that's as Chat Noir!!! And I was Adrien at the time!!! Agh, she probably thinks I'm pathetic now!!!_ he knew in the back of his mind that that wasn't true in the slightest (funnily enough, His Lady had thought the exact same thing) but still couldn't help thinking that way, old habits die hard he supposed. 

Sighing aloud, shaking the thoughts from his head. "I've missed this" he whispered into the wind, shifting his position so that he was now laying down across the beam he'd claimed as his perch, one arm on his chest, the other hanging over the edge, one leg bent as the other lay flat and then closing his eyes. "It's so nice up here...." he wished it could last forever. 

However, he knew that his time was almost up and that he'd have to rush back home just in time for Nathalie to 'wake' him for breakfast and shove him out the door.  _But before that_ , he got up and started making his way back down, _Chat Noir needs to make a few public appearances_. A bubble of guilt formed in his chest as he remembered how sad Ladybug had been, how scared he had made her.... he never wanted her to feel that way again. Bounding over the rooftops once again, he ventured over to the shopping district, knowing full well that there would be people milling about as they set up shop (as heir to the Agreste Fashion Empire, Adrien was often dragged to various 'key places' set up in Paris, where he would then model and endorse various fabrics and items before school even started) it was as good a place to start as any.  _Especially at this hour_. 

Barely even a full minute passed before he was noticed. 

"OH MY GOSH!!! LOOK, IT'S CHAT NOIR!!!" a woman screamed. 

He winced at the volume but forced a smile on his face anyways, shooting everyone who turned their head to look a wave.  _ **Apparently this was a mistake**_. 

"OH-MY-GOSH-DID-YOU-SEE-THAT? HE WAVED AT ME!!!!"

"HAH. PUH-LEASE!! HE WASN'T WAVING AT YOU, HE WAS WAVING AT ME!!!" 

"THE HELL DID YOU SAY?"

"YOU HEARD ME!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!!"

"CHAT NOIR!!! HERE HERE LOOK OVER HERE!!!"

"LOOK HE'S HERE!!! IN PERSON!!!! BEST DAY EVER!!!" 

"OMG, HE'S SO CUTE!!!"

"CAN I GET A PICTURE?"

"ARE YOU OKAY?? YOU TOOK A BAD HIT IN THE LAST AKUMA ATTACK!!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!"

"WILL YOU SIGN MY NOTEBOOK?"

"SIGN MY BABY!!!" 

"CHAT!! YOU'RE MY HERO!!!" 

"MARRY ME!!!"

"WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!! THANK GOD YOU'RE OKAY!!!" 

"HERE KITTY KITTY~!!!!"

"I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED... ARE THOSE CAT EARS REAL??" 

"HIS EYES ARE GORGEOUS!!" 

"I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW!!"

"WILL YOU MODEL MY LINE??!!!" 

"CAN I TOUCH YOUR BELL??!!" 

"PLEASE, WON'T YOU ENDORSE MY SHOP? I'LL GIVE YOU FREE ITEMS!!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!! HERE, TAKE THIS BRACELET AS A SIGN OF MY LOVE!!!" 

"Hey... Tiffany, I bought you that bracelet...." 

"We agreed that Chat Noir is my Free Pass!!" 

"Still...." 

"Hey, Ladybug was  _your_  free pass. You don't see me complaining! James!!" 

" _Whah_....  _that's fair_ "

"I WANT YOUR CHILDREN!!! IT'S OKAY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO COMMIT!! JUST IMPREGNATE ME!!!" 

"Lady, there is something wrong with you...." 

"YEAH WELL YOU ASKED YA??!!" 

"AWW WHO'S A PRETTY KITTY?!! YOU ARE!! YES YOU ARE!!!" 

"STOP TALKING TO HIM LIKE THAT!! HE ISN'T A F*CKING PET!!!" 

"I'D LOVE TO BE THE ONE TO  _DOMESTICATE_  THIS ALLEY CAT!!" 

"EWWWWWWW!!!!" 

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" 

" _She made it a dirty thing...._ " 

"ARE YOU HURT? I WORK AS A NURSE. WHY NOT LET ME TAKE A LOOK AT YOU. IT'S OKAY, YOU CAN TRUST ME, I'M A PROFESSIONAL SO I'LL BE VERY  _THOROUGH_  AND  _VERY VERY DISCRETE~_  IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN - WINK" 

"Meryl, I don't think you know how winking works....." 

"AGH, SHUT IT GARY!!!!" 

"This is insane. MOVE IT!!! I'M TRYING TO GET TO WORK!!!" 

"WHO CARES ABOUT WORK WHEN THERE IS A LITERAL SUPERHERO STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU??!!" 

"He lives here. You can look literally ANYWHERE and you'll see either his or Ladybug's face plastered all over Paris! Chill Out!!!" 

"Finally a voice of reason" 

"WHO ASKED YOU???!!" 

"CHAT!!" 

"CHAT!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!" 

 _I know I wanted to make a scene but this is too much.... but I suppose.... this could work._  Smiling broadly at them all, "Hey everyone!! Bonjour!!" he called out calmly, in hopes that it would appease the crowd and finally make them settle down.  ** _He was wrong_**. 

"KYAAAHHH HE SPOKE TO US!! DID YOU HEAR HIM!!!" 

"HIS VOICE IS SO SEXY!!!" 

"GOOD MORNING CHAT NOIR!!!!" 

"BONJOUR, CHAT NOIR!!!" 

"BONJOUR!!!"

"BONJOUR!!!"

"BONJOUR!!! TO YOU TOO SWEETHEART!!!!"

"IT'S A GREAT MORNING NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE!!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!" 

"CHAT NOIR!!" 

Laughing to himself, sometimes Parisians can be a bit much.  _Even more so if you're not accustomed to handling rabid fans_. Good thing he's had practice as Adrien, only in this instance, he doesn't have to simply smile and look pretty like some kind of porcelain doll, he can be more lax... more, himself. Chat Noir.  _But I digress_. 

"Sorry everyone, I'd love to hang around but I've got a busy day ahead of me. Paris won't patrol itself!!" 

"ARE YOU GOING TO SEE LADYBUG??!!" someone randomly called out just seconds before he was about to take off. 

His cat ears twitched, tail flicked and he threw the crowd a playful smirk, "Hell yeah, I am!!" he then took off, laughing to himself as he heard more screams from the crowd. Mostly the girls. 

"I KNEW IT!!! LADYNOIR IS REAL!!!" 

"LADYNOIR FOREVER!!!" 

"I SHIP IT!!!!" 

"HASHTAG RELATIONSHIP GOALS!!!"

Muttering to himself, "LadyNoir? What?" laughing again, " _Fangirls_ " shaking his head,  _although... I do like the sound of that_. "Maybe I'll look it up on the internet sometime.... but until then...." extending his staff, he flew into the air and disappeared behind the buildings. 

 

**+++**

Adrien slipped back into his room, detransforming just in time for Nathalie to knock on his door three times before opening it. "Adrien---" she paused after noting he was already awake and apparently dressed for the day. "Your breakfast is awaiting you downstairs, if you're ready" 

He smiled brightly at her, "Yeah. I'm ready!" 

Bobbing her head, she turned and made her way down into the dining room, Adrien directly on her heels. Once he was settled into his chair and began eating (what was thankfully a normal breakfast again!!) she pulled out her tablet and began to lay out what his schedule for the day was and he was really not looking forward to it. 

"Since this is your first day back after recovering, your father has instructed me to tell you that  _'although I know you are excited, you are not allowed to risk your health in any manner and are therefore excused from fencing and other physical activities until further notice'_  is that understood?" 

He blinked, chewing on his third strip of bacon as he processed Nathalie's --- no --- his  _Father's_ indirect words. No fencing? Until further notice? That's it? This... this.... this was AWESOME!!! "Yes. I understand but...." his words were calm and neutral unlike his thoughts which were ecstatic and full of happiness. Adrien learned a long time ago that if he shows interest in something, he won't be allowed to do it and if he exhibits distress about something, he'll be forced to do it anyways.... so the best way to get what he wants is to act like he doesn't want it. Therefore, in this situation.... "No fencing??!! I'm fine!! Really!! I'm better now... I can handle---" 

She put up a placating hand, frown on her lips and brows furrowed. "I'm sorry Adrien but your Father was very clear, so please...." her tone turned emploring, she really didn't enjoy this part of her job and it was obvious to the young Agrese heir, so as usual... "Alright. Alright, I get it" he turned his sights back onto his food, stacking the eggs onto the toast and drowning it in ketchup, then shoving it into his mouth. It was divine!! 

Pleased with this, she turned back to the tablet, "Your usual modeling and photoshoots have been shortened from the usual four hours to the minimum of one hour and if you feel dizzy, light headed or even the slightest bit nauseous, you are to immediately inform us and you will be brought directly home to rest for the remainder of the day. Is that also understood?" 

He stabbed at his home fries with the fork as he took in her words, nodding twice before finishing the potatoes off as well. "Yeah. I get it" This was just getting better and better!!!  _I should get hospitalized more often--- no wait, that's a horrible thought!!! and yet, at this rate, all my extra curricular activities will be either banned for the time being or off the table altogether!!!_   _then maybe... maybe I can hang out with my friends more often than usual!! If I play my cards right that is._  "What am I supposed to do in the meantime then? I'm going to be so bored..." he huffed, sipping at his water. 

Nathalie smiled slightly, "about that...." he perked up at, there were very rare moments when she took on THAT tone of voice, but when she does it usually meant that---- "Monsieur Agreste, has conceded that while you have been granted more free time than usual,  _due to your unfortunate accident_ , socializing with your friends and classmates after school will not be considered as a distraction. Therefore, while you are recovering, you are free to do as you wish... within reason" 

At that moment, Adrien could've cried!!! he was just that effing ecstatic!!! "I--" choking back a scream of 'HELL YEAH!!' he retained his composure and kept on his meticulously crafted mask. "---I see. Thank You, Nathalie and.... please pass on my thanks to my father as well" 

She bowed her head, "Of course. Now, if you're finished, the car is waiting for you out front" 

It took every ounce of willpower in him not to book it out the door. He then proceeded to walk out to the front. "Yeah... yeah I'm finished"  _I can't wait to tell the guys!!!_  Once the car was in view, a large smile broke out and he only quickened his pace to a light speed-walk, practically jumping in and slamming the door behind him. "Bonjour, Enzo!" 

The gorilla of a man, who was Adrien's designated driver slash bodyguard merely grunted in response, as per usual and the blonde once again found himself wondering if Enzo didn't speak because he didn't want to or because he actually couldn't talk. He's pretty certain that even if he asked, he wasn't going to get an answer.... _Ah well_. Him not talking was one less person Adrien had to worry about blabbing to his father about what he does in his spare time that wasn't consumed with photoshoots and modeling scenes. As the car began to move, Adrien leaned into the door, propping his head up with his hand in a way that completely concealed his lips and the smile he was once again sporting. He had a feeling that this was going to be a good day for him. 

 

**+++**

The car pulled up the the curb in front of the school just in time for Adrien to catch a glimpse of his best friend leaning back against the school entrance, headphones on and eyes glued into his phone's screen. "Au revoir, Enzo! Don't bother coming to pick me up, I'll walk home!!" 

Enzo grunted in distress but the door had already been opened and shut again before Adrien could register it. The gorilla really only had two jobs: Drive Adrien Agreste and Protect Adrien Agreste.... and Adrien Agreste had just simultaneously prevented him from doing his job while also giving the poor man a small heart attack. He didn't want to get fired because he wasn't doing his job and he really didn't want to be held responsible for anything terrible that might befall the boy when not in his direct line of sight!!! The last time he let the boy out of his sight, the kid ended up hospitalized!!! and Monsieur Agreste was severely pissed off at him for it, even though it wasn't his fault!!!  _It had been my day off too._ Sighing out loud, Enzo shook his head and tried to calm himself,  _the kid only got hospitalized because an Akuma attacked unexpectedly and other than that he's usually very careful... so as long as that didn't happen, the kid should be fine... right?_   groaning to himself, he pulled off the curb and made his way back to the Agreste Mansion, he just has to pray that an Akuma won't make another appearance - at least not while he wasn't there to protect the kid. 

 

**+++**

Adrien knew that calling out to his friend would be pointless, since he could never hear anything at normal speaking volume with those on, so he did the next best thing and scared the shit outta him. Sneaking up, he screamed "BOO!!!" as his arms wrapped around the other's form, jerking him away from the wall and into his chest. Nino screamed at the unexpected physical contact, jumping out of his skin as he struggled in his unknown assailants grip, the headphones sliding off his head and landing around his neck. It wasn't until he heard familiar laughter, followed by a familiar voice that he'd finally calmed down again, "Hahahaha!!! Got Ya!!" 

Twisting his head around as far as he could while still trapped by the arms around him, his mind racing as he tried to match a face to the voice. Eyes wide as he caught a glimpse of blonde hair and cool green eyes, "Adrien?" 

His laughter only seemed to intensify, "Ah man.... I got you good!! Hahahaha!!! You---you should've seen.... the look.... on your face!!! It was priceless man!! Totally priceless!!!" he gasped for air between laughs as he spoke. 

Happy and relieved as Nino was to finally have his best bud back, he was also kinda pissed as well and he expressed that by shoving an elbow back into his friend's abdomen, causing him to be instantly released with a  _'OOPH'_  but that still hadn't stopped Adrien from laughing - which in turn caused Nino's lips to quirk in a smile, his own laughter joining the blonde's for a few moments more. Once he'd calmed down, he gave Adrien a once-over, internally pleased to see that his friend didn't look any worse for wear after the latest Akuma attack and being hospitalized, then absent for the last seven days. He hadn't been aware of what had happened until his social media blew up on him with video clips and hashtags - not to mention the emergency alerts from the 'Heroes and Villains sightings' app, which was affectionately named  _Chat Tacheté_  AKA the  _Spotted Cat_  App.

 

 _Hysterical right?_  

 

Nino completely freaked when he first heard the news and rushed directly to the hospital to try and see if he was okay, since the clips he watched didn't really explain or show much other than Ladybug carrying his unconscious and bloodied form.... it was a hard thing to watch but he pressed forward and watched them all anyways - Adrien was his friend after all, his BEST friend!!! - as Alya always says:  _'It's better to be properly informed, rather than ignorant. Ignorance may be bliss but there are instances where it could cost you.... maybe even kill you. I'm too young to die and so are you'_  he huffed with laughter internally,  _good old Alya_. He hadn't been allowed admittance -  _of f*cking course_  - since it was hospital policy and all that jazz.... not to mention, the second Adrien's so-called father:  _the illustrious Gabriel Agrese_  heard word of this, immediately proceeded to block off him, Alya, Marinette and even CHLOÉ at every turn. They had not been allowed to check in on him while he was hospitalized or even when he'd been sent home, nope! the freaking asshole forbade them..... yes, FORBADE them from even trying and no doubt had confiscated all means of communication the teens would've used to talk to him with - which included his cell phone, computer, tablet and all the internet connected video game consoles in his room(which was basically all of them)  _Damn Control Freak_. Nino wanted so badly to grind his teeth at the memory but shrugged it off, it was no matter, Adrien was back and that's what's important. As far as the D.J was concerned, Gabriel Agreste could burn in hell. 

Putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder, he smiled. "It's good to have you back, dude" 

"Good to be back" he glanced around them and then looked up at the school, smiling. "I've missed this" 

He adjusted his glasses and decided that he wanted to test his theory. "Hey man, did you happen to get your phone back?" 

Adrien's entire countancence brightened and Nino was willing to admit that he loved watching his friend light up like that, he was more himself like this and not the pretty little Ken-Doll Gabriel demands he be. "Yeah, actually!!!" he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and excitedly clicked it on.  _Damn I've missed this!!_  then a thought occurred to him, "Wait... how'd you know he took my phone away?" 

Nino smirked, shaking his head. "Dude. I know you and I know HIM. If it had been left up to you, you would've allowed us to visit and you would've never gone into complete radio silence without warning me first. Your father however.... it's just something that he would do" 

He scratched at the back of his head, "Oh... yeah. Sorry man, I----" 

"Forget it" he quickly cut the other off. There was no need for him to explain, Nino understood, better than most would think. "Now how about we get inside before the first bell rings? Last thing you need is to be late on your first day back from solitary confinement" 

Adrien laughed at the joke but nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Lets!!" and with that, they both ran into the building. 

 

**+++**

It wasn't all that surprising to the boys as they entered the classroom, that Adrien was instantly spotted and then immediately pulled into a vice grip, by none other than one Chloé Bourgeois. "OH!!! MY DARLING ADRIKINS!!! YOU'RE BACK!!!!" what did surprise them however was the fact that Chloé was crying into his shoulder.... and she was shaking. Badly. 

Adrien felt his chest swell with guilt,  _it was his fault_ , yet another person to add to the list of people he'd scared with his near-death experience. He took a deep breath to steady himself before wrapping his arms around her form, squeezing back with equal strength and closing his eyes. "I'm back" he'd whispered to her, but in the quiet of the classroom - with everyone watching silently in rapt attention - it had been heard by all and although each of them had been terrified by the news seven days ago, it hadn't really sunk in as real  yet..... until just now and it struck a chord in all of them. 

Once the two of them broke apart, Rose was the first person to snap back, standing from her seat, eyes wet with unshed tears "Welcome Back Adrien! I'm so glad you're okay!!" 

Then one by one, the rest began to follow suit, "Yeah man. It's good to have you back" - Kim

"It's not the same without you" - Max

"Oh my gosh, it was so horrific!! And they wouldn't let anyone see you!! Not even Chloé!!! Can you believe it??!!" - Sabrina

"I swear man, I practically had a heart attack when I'd heard the news" - Alix 

"I'm so relieved that you're okay, Welcome back" - Mylène 

"Yeah" Ivan nodded, agreeing with his girlfriend. 

"It's good to see you on your feet again, the videos online made it look really bad" - Nathaniel 

"Welcome back Adrien" - Juleka 

Alya stood from her seat, "Adrien, I swear, you have got to be more careful. I'm glad you're okay but don't you ever get yourself hurt like that again!! We were all terrified when we found out!! The next time an Akuma attacks, you better steer clear!! You hear me, Agreste??!!" her eyes were watering by the end and Adrien smiled at her. 

"Yeah, Alya. I hear you"  _Although given my role as Chat Noir, that's kind of going to be a difficult thing to do._  "I'm sorry for scaring you like that" he stepped closer to her as another pang of guilt hit him. 

She scoffed, avoiding eye contact just as a few tears slipped down her face. "Y-You'd better be!!" she took off her glasses to rub at her face, trying to dry them away "If you end up dead because you were being careless again, I'll never forgive you!!" 

He huffed in laughter, not that the situation was funny, it was just that he was so touched by everyone's concern for him. He wasn't used to it, it was something totally new to him, having people in his life that really truly cared about HIM as a person and not just because he was famous. It made him feel.... cared for.... loved.... same as if they were his blood and he knew that he'd never be able to express that enough, not with words anyways. Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Thank You Alya" 

Sliding her glasses back onto her face, her bottom lip trembled before she flung herself at him and caught him in a hug that he instantly returned. "Don't thank me!! Idiot!! I didn't do anything....." 

"Yes. You did" 

"And what might that of been?!!" she asked, sounding really confused.  _What did I do? I don't remember doing anything for him...._  

"You showed me that you truly care about me...." he glanced up at the rest of his classmates, "All of you. So, thank you, everyone. It means a lot to me" the smile he gave them was so brilliant that the ones who'd previously been strong enough to hold it together... finally broke. 

"Damn it man!!! Why'd you have to go and say something like that??!! Now I can't hold back anymore!!" - Alix 

"Seriously, it's nothing all that great.... you're giving us too much credit" - Nathaniel 

"Really Adrien? I just... I  _can't_  man!!!" - Kim

He laughed a bit louder, giving Alya one last squeeze before breaking away. "But It's true" he insisted. 

Alya composed herself as best as she could before glancing over at Marinette, who had been just sitting there the entire time, hands clasped in front of her and eyes zeroed on them with an intensity no one except Marinette herself could understand. Alya knew that Adrien's trip to the ER had shaken her, hell, SHE had been shaken and she makes a habit out of chasing Ladybug and Chat Noir all across Paris to record their fights for her blog. Discovering what happened to her friend thanks to the Spotted-Cat-App was one of the more challenging and frightening things she's ever had to deal with... and considering how Mari actually LOVES the guy... seeing him like that was probably even MORE traumatic on her than anyone - except maybe Adrien himself. But now that he was back on his feet and looking a thousand times better, she'd assumed Mari would be ecstatic and one of the first one's to welcome him back.... so she couldn't really comprehend.... the lack of enthusiasm being displayed here. Was there something else going on that she wasn't aware of? Alya certainly couldn't think of a plausible explanation. The only thing that could be upsetting for her was Adrien's accident. 

She sat down, nudging at Mari's leg under the desk until she caught her friend's attention. "Hey, you alright?" she whispered, eyes furrowed in concern. 

Marinette just smiled at her, it wasn't necessarily fake but it wasn't happy either. "Yeah... I'm just... really relieved is all. Give me a minute, to gather my courage. Okay?" It wasn't exactly a lie per-say but it wasn't the complete truth either and the ravenette felt kind of torn about the entire situation.  _Times like this make me sincerely wish that I could just tell Alya everything_. 

Alya simply nodded, easily accepting her friends words at face-value and supposed it really would take a large amount of courage on Marinette's part to talk to him after.... THAT and let it go with a nod. 

Marinette was grateful and took in a deep breath to steady herself. Ever since Adrien had walked in the classroom with Nino, the same way he always did  _(before all this nonsense occurred)_  as if nothing had happened, it had struck her once again that he could've died that night and she would never get to see him like this again. She worried at her bottom lip as the images flashed across her mind and she had to fist her hands just to keep herself from tearing her own hair out.  _Now wouldn't that of been a scene?_  she bitterly mused to herself. She had wanted so badly just just rush him the second she saw him, similar to what Chloé did  _she was reluctant to admit_  but she held herself back. The Ladybug in her wanted to chastise him for being reckless again,  _though thankfully Alya did that for her_ , then she'd wanted to grab him by the hand and drag him out of the classroom where she would then proceed to cosset him for the rest of the day. Then again, if she could manage to keep herself under control, she'd find some way to get Adrien to transform into Chat Noir.... then she could really let loose without him questioning her. It was so damn hard though; Everytime she looked at Adrien now, all she could see was her sweet Kitten: wounded, dying, seeking comfort in her arms and it broke her heart all over again. 

Closing her eyes,  _It's gotta be now or never.... I just need to push everything aside long enough to get through the day._  Marinette finally stood from her seat and walked over to him. "Adrien?" when he turned his attention onto her, bluebell blue locked onto mint green and she envisioned the familiar black mask which covered glowing neon green cat eyes and smiled fondly at him. "I'm really glad that you're okay" then, she too pulled him in for a hug, which surprised not only Adrien but also everyone else in the room. She usually wasn't so bold around the guy.... her not-so-secret crush.... but then again, near-death experiences tended to do that to people and the ones around them. Didn't they? 

"Welcome Back, Adrien"  _Welcome Back, Chaton_. 

His smile only seemed to widen as he hugged her back, this was the first time Mari's initiated physical contact between them  _(as a friend!! get your mind out of the gutter!!)_  Adrien used to think that she was scared of him, or at least... easily intimidated... for some reason he could never really figure out.  _Now however, it seems as if she's finally warming up to me_  and somehow, that made his feelings prior grow more intense:  _these people really care about me_. "It's good to be back, Mari" 

It was at that moment their Homeroom teacher slash adviser Miss Bustier walked into the room, she however failed to take notice of what was going on as she walked to her desk. "Bonjour, class!!" 

"Bonjour, Miss Bustier!!" everyone chorused 

"Alright now, before we begin----" It was at this time she finally looked up and took note of her absentee student in the embrace of another and she was immediately pleased and filled with a sense of pride. "Adrien!!!" 

Marinette and Adrien pulled away from each other, her going back to her seat red-faced as he smiled happily at the teacher, "Good Morning. Miss Bustier" 

She sighed in relief, eyes wet as she circled her desk and moved towards her student, "Oh Adrien! It's so good to have you back!!" as she neared him, she bent down to eye level and gave him an obvious once over, hands on both his shoulders. "How are you feeling today? Are you better now? Is there anything at all that I can do or get for you?" 

His smile only widened. "I'm feeling good. Yes, I'm a lot better now and no, it's okay! I don't need anything but thank you" 

She smiled fondly and pulled him into a quick hug, "I'm glad" she then pulled back and stood upright to address the class, "Now I'm sure you already have but, did you all get the chance to welcome Adrien back to school?" her eyes flickered from one student to the next. 

"Yes, Miss Bustier" Alya spoke up, "We've all said our peace. 

She nodded. "Good. Good. That's good" she clapped her hands together, trying to recompose herself. "Well then, since we've got that all settled. Please take your seat Adrien so that we may begin" 

He nodded in return, "Yes Ma'am" and quickly settled next to Nino who playfully shoved his shoulder into the other's, making him laugh quietly.  _Dieu, it was good to be back_. 

 

**+++**

After their morning classes were over, everyone was free to either stay on school grounds and eat lunch, hang out until their afternoon classes began or they could go out into the city as long as they returned in time for their class to start. Nino was at his locker putting his books away while Adrien leaned against the lockers next to him, contemplating how they should spend the next three hours before they had to head back. 

"What do you say, about going to a café or something?" 

"A café?" he quirked a brow but didn't comment, "Sure. Why not?" shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder. "Is it gonna be just the two of us or are we letting the girls tag along?" 

Adrien was thoughtful for a moment, "If it's all the same to you, I'd much rather be surrounded by other people right now... since, as you said before, I just got out of Solitary Confinement. Every second not trapped between four walls is a blessing" 

Nino nodded, "Alright. Cool.... then we just need to----" his eyes roamed over the hoard of students until he caught sight of reddish-brown ombre hair and smiled, "ALYA!!" 

She perked at the sound of her name being called and began looking around to find out who called her, then hazel locked onto amber and Alya smiled, waving at the boys. "Yo, Nino!!!" she then made a show of grabbing Marinette by the wrist and dragging her over to them. "What's up?" 

"Adrien and I are gonna go into town for lunch, care to join us?" 

Alya's countenance lit up, "Hell yes!!! Mari?" her eyes flickered over to the ravenette, who for once, wasn't blushing incessantly, shuffling on her feet while slightly trying to hide behind Alya, or avoiding looking directly at the supermodel as she usually would have done in the past. 

Instead, Mari was calm and settled, with seemingly no problem being so close in proximity to the blonde. She smiled at them all, "Yeah sure. That's sounds good! We heading out now, or....?" 

"Now would be preferable" Nino nodded. 

Adrien wrapped an arm around the D.J's neck, "Then what are we still standing around for? Lets go! I'm starving!!" The boys laughed as they walked out of the building. 

"What? did they starve you while in Solitary?" 

"Basically. I was forced into an all liquid diet until they were certain I wasn't gonna have a relapse or something... how can you have a relapse from blood-loss anyways? It doesn't make sense to me!! I was fine---" 

As the two boys chattered away, the girls walked behind them at a small distance, so that they could hear what was being said while also being able to whisper to each other without being heard at the same time. Although, Mari was zoning out, so she wasn't paying attention to what they were talking about - Alya noticed. "Girl. Are you okay?" 

"Hmm?" Marinette blinked up at her friend, "Yeah. I'm fine. Why?" 

She frowned, eyes furrowed. "It's just that.... ever since Adrien's been back you've been acting different. Should I be concerned?" 

Shaking her head, "I appreciate that Alya but no. Really, I'm okay.... it's just...." 

"Just?" 

"I've had an epiphany as of late" 

Alya blinked, eyebrows raised, "A epiphany you say? About what exactly?" 

"Adrien" eyeing the boys walking in front of them, she took a moment to just watch them, Nino making hand gestures as he talks, Adrien throwing his head back as he laughs at whatever was said. It made her smile. 

The redhead waited a few moments more in the event the ravenette would elaborate but when that didn't happen, she decided to try and see if she could get anything else out of the pigtailed girl that would better explain this sudden change. "What about Adrien?" 

Realizing that she wasn't about to be let off the hook as easily as before, she sighed and toyed with the strap of her purse. "He almost died" 

Aly had instantly wanted to bite back with a,  _'Well, duh. Tell me something I don't know!!'_   but she managed to bite her tongue.  _Easy there girl, be patient, you know how Marinette is.... just give her a minute and she'll explain_. Then  right on que: 

"I haven't known him for long and yet it feels like I've known him for all my life. You of all people know that I've been in love with him the majority of the time since first meeting him -  _since he gave me his umbrella_  - but I'm always so shy and self conscious around the guy. I can barely get a word out half the time and I'm always blushing like an idiot, I hide behind you or run away, acting like a freaking deer caught in headlights" Sighing aloud, "I mean, he's still just a  _GUY_  right? He's no different than Nino, Max, Kim or Nath!! being a famous model or the son of Gabriel Agreste shouldn't change anything and yet.... same as all his other fangirls, I've put him up on this pedestal as if he were some kind of trophy that I know I can never win, just something pretty to look at and pine over when I'm feeling down, like:  _oh wouldn't it be nice to have that? wouldn't it be great to be with him?_  but, that's wrong and it's not fair of me to put that on him. He's got enough people in his life who do that to him.... including his own father!!! I'm terrible!!! We spend all day in school together yet I never really tried to get to know HIM for who he is!!" her voice trailed off for a moment. "He could've died seven days go and, and I've never would've... I'd of never had the chance to.... fix that" her eyes became wet with unshed tears but she refused to let them fall.  _Not now, I'll wait until I see him as Chat, then I'm gonna cry all I'd like_. 

Marinette realized that she was basically just reiterating the conversation she'd had with Tikki four days ago but it's all she can offer at the moment without outing herself as Ladybug or Adrien as Chat Noir. Plus it was still bugging her so----  _Hah, again with the puns!!_  she groaned,  _Chat's getting to me again!!!_  

"Oh Mari" Alya sighed, pulling her into a one armed hug.  _Now I get it,_  it filled her with a new sense of determination. "Alright. So how're we going to do this?" 

The ravenette blinked in surprise. "Huh? Do what?"  _what's she going on about now?_  

Alya smirked, "Fix it. Adrien's not dead, he's alive and well and he's standing right in front of you! There's still time!! If you're serious about this, then I'll support you and do whatever I can so don't be afraid to ask me. Okay?" 

Marinette once again found herself awestruck, it tended to happen when she was around the ombre haired teen. Alya's always had such a fiery spirit and Marinette secretly prays that that same spirit will someday rub off on her, so that she could be confident even outside of the mask. "Yeah. Okay" 

She smiled but before she could say anything more, the boys stopped walking and Adrien called back to them. "Hey, girls!! Were here!!" 

The two looked up and saw a silver two-story café with large windows to let you see inside, a large black awning (with silver trimming framing the entire thing) over the door with the words 'Crépuscule Noir' in silver stylized letters and an image of an abstract-like cat on top. 

 

"Welcome to the Black Twilight Café"

 

**+++**

Once inside, they took in the silver walls with black designs, a few framed pictures hanging here and there, the booths were all black with mahogany tables, whereas the chairs were silver with a simple yet elegant design, bar tables and high chairs lined the other side of the room and if you looked near the back you'd see the stairs leading to the second floor, along with the silver patio chairs and tables outside.

"Where should we....?" Marinette was about to ask but Alya jumped right on it, pointing at the nearest seating area that was free, "Right over here!!" 

They seated themselves in one of the corner booths by the windows where Alya had somehow  _miraculously_  arranged for Marinette to sit next to Adrien, while she herself sat next to Nino - both girls trapped between the boys and the wall - which made Mari blush despite herself and made Alya smirk victoriously. To an outsider, it would look as if the teens were on a double date, what with how perfectly they seemed to suit their current seating partners and that was exactly what the ombre haired girl wanted. 

Alya sent her a wink,  _'don't thank me, just take advantage of the opportunity!'_  and in response, the ravenette simply nodded then proceeded to hide her face behind her menu. 

"So-so... w-what's good here?"  _Damn it Alya!! I appreciate the sentiment but now you've gone and made me all flustered!! So much for trying to act more normal around the guy!! AGH!!!_  

Nino shrugged, "Dunno. Never been here before, Adrien?" 

I've only ever been here a handful of times but the food here is really good and the prices are reasonable so don't be afraid to just order whatever you'd like. I'm buying today" 

At this, Mari began to sputter. "What?!! Oh-no, Adrien. Y-You don't have to do that!! We can pay for ourselves, you don't have to put yourself out----" 

He just laughed, which instantly silenced her as he waved off her concerns. "No no really. It's okay! I want to, it'll be my treat.... and also...." he ducked his head a bit, rubbing at the back of his neck "consider it an apology for scaring everyone the way I did" 

 

**That pulled at everyone's heartstrings.**

"Damn it dude!! Quit apologizing, it was not your fault!!!" he reached over the table and flicked Adrien on the forehead, causing the blonde to wince slightly. "Ya hear me? It was just a case of 'wrong place, wrong time' and nothing more! so.... so you can just quit it already man!! I can't get over it if you keep dredging it back up again y'know?" 

Alya sighed, shrugging and shaking her head. "Yeah, seriously Agreste. It's no longer necessary, you've already apologized to us all back at school and I won't hold a grudge about it as long as you swear to be more careful. Akuma's are no joke! Besides.... if you really wanna make it up to me" she gave the table a sly smirk, "Give me an exclusive for my Ladyblog~!! Hehehehe" 

This time, Marinette was the one to reach across the table, " _ALYA!!_ " she hissed, smacking the aspiring reporter on the shoulder. 

"What? it's not everyday you get carried to the hospital by THE Ladybug Herself!!! Amiright or Am I Right~?!! Hahaha" 

It was at this point, Adrien flushed and avoided eye contact. "You do realize that I was unconscious while that happened right? I have no recollection of that happening!!!" his face slowly grew even more red.  _My Lady.... she---she really does care about me, both sides of me. She may not yet realize that we're the same person but, it seems she's not putting more value on Adrien's well-being rather than Chat's, if her freakout at my house a few days ago is anything to go by. I'm pretty certain that if LB knew where to find Chat, she'd of gone looking for him after she was done checking on Adrien. I swear!! I'll make it up to you LB, somehow!! I don't like seeing her cry._  

Alya clicked her tongue, "Like that matters!!!! You were in the arms of Ladybug~!!! She cradled you against her bosom and carried you to the hospital!!! That means something!!! Besides.... I'm fairly certain that people are going to want to know that you're alright, especially Ladybug, who knows how our beloved heroes of Paris are handling this incident. I'd be willing to bet that the two heroes are  _at this very moment_  mulling over everything that happened, trying to figure out how it all went so wrong for them. Granted, the Akuma they were facing was surprisingly stronger than usual.... but it probably doesn't help when you've got civilians getting caught in the crossfire...." 

Nino leaned over, into her personal space, nudging at her with his elbow. "You mean... like a certain ace reporter that we all know and tease??!!" he smirked. 

"NINO!!" she hissed, smirking in return as she rammed her shoulder into his and they both ended up laughing. 

Marinette flushed a bit at the mention of her 'bosom' but other than that, somehow managed to retain some of her dignity when she saw that Adrien's face now rivaled Nath's hair in the red department. She smirked to herself, knowing what she knew now and realizing that it wasn't out of embarrassment that he was acting like this....  _well, granted, he's probably a bit embarrassed what with the way Alya described it_.... it's probably more like.... the very notion that His Lady had been so concerned, that she rushed him to the hospital----the Chat inside of him is probably doing a little happy dance right about now. 

Part of her wished that things had turned out differently: that he'd remembered what happened to him for starters - he almost died in her arms for heaven's sake!! - also how he de-transformed in front of her.... because then she could've come clean too and in this situation.... she could've taken his hand into hers under the table in silent assurance, smiling softly at him as his eyes became hidden under the fringe of his hair, him squeezing back in response. Him fully aware that His Lady was sitting right next to him, that she's been next to him all this time and that  _for now at least_  he didn't have to shoulder the weight of the world or even his own guilt alone. 

Instead, she took a breath - shoving back the images of  _'what could've been'_  for what was happening here and now. Even still, he may not be aware of it yet but as Adrien and Marinette, they're friends, and as friends.... she took his hand into hers anyways and tried not to take it personally when he tensed for a second, completely taken aback by the sudden touch. His eyes snapped over to Marinette's form in shock until he saw the look in her eyes, making him pause for a moment. "Mari?" he whispered so quietly, the other two across the table hadn't heard him. 

She smiled fondly at him, closing her eyes - imagining cat ears, a black mask and neon green cat eyes staring back at her - then opening them again. "I'm glad you're here" she whispered back, squeezing his hand. 

He smiled in return, "So am I" entwining his fingers with hers before he squeezed back. Her heart fluttered but she refused to act like the same  _star-struck her_  she used to be, there was so much more to Adrien than she could've ever imagined and he deserved so much better from her than what he's been getting. She was going to be better, she was determined to be. 

It was at this point a waitress wandered over, she wore the shop's typical silver and black uniform and she had black eyes and brown hair pulled back into a bun. "Hello and Welcome to the Black Twilight, my name is Penny and I'll be serving you today. Have you decided what you'd like or do you still need a few moments?" 

"I'll have a chai tea with the crispy fish tacos with mango salsa" - Aly 

"And I'll have a salted caramel tea with the pulled pork sliders" - Nino 

"I'll have a vanilla tea with the crispy chicken ranch salad" - Adrien 

"I'll have a cinnamon tea with the salmon and vegetable cakes" - Marinette 

Penny took down their orders as they spoke, "Alright, coming right up!" then scampered off to place their order with the chef. 

 

**+++**

The Quartet continued to talk while they waited for their food, their drinks having already been served. "Dude. What's up those stairs anyways?" 

Adrien sipped on his tea, humming in thought for a moment, "Oh yeah! There's like... a huge library up there!!" 

"For real?!!" Alya asked, surprised. Out of the four of them, she loved reading the most, especially old news articles - she finds that by reading other people's work, it'll help her to improve on her own. 

He laughed, "Yeah. The shelves are all lined up against the walls, books stacked from the floor to the ceiling. There's couches, chairs, tabled and computers too! It's a really good place to do homework and research or.... you know, just relax for a few hours. There's even a balcony and if you go up onto the roof, you can see the Eiffel Tower from there! Pretty neat right?" 

Alya smirked, steepling her fingers under her chin, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "You know Adrien... for someone who claims to of only been here a handful of times... you certainly sound like you come here every single day. Don't tell me that this is where you're hiding when we can't find you half the time" 

Adrien coughed to cover his shock.  _Damn, sometimes I forget how sharp she can actually be once she's interested in a subject!!!_  "No. Not really.... I just appreciate how quiet this place can be. And also.... I know the owners, so---" 

"Wait, you know the owners of the café?" Marinette interjected, blinking at him in awe. 

Adrien could've kissed her right then.  _God Bless Marinette and her perfect timing!!!_  he latched onto the lifeline that was Mari's question, in the hopes that it would distract Alya enough to not question him about his time spent here anymore.  _It's more Chat Noir that comes by anyhow.... sure I've met them as Adrien but they're more familiar with me in my.... costume._  "Yeah, Eléna and Élise Noémie are the co-owners here, they're around our ages and they have a little sister name Elsá. You'd love them, Alya, they're about as snarky as you are" he smirked at her. 

She clicked her tongue. "Hm. Are they now?" 

 _Hook. Line and Sinker!!!!_  he cheered silently, then turned to Marinette, "And Mari. You would absolutely adore Elsá, she's five years old and one of the cutest little things you'll probably ever see" 

Marinette perked at that, "Like Manon?" then she sorta deflated for a moment, "she's not ---er--- how do I put it without sounding like a horrible person?" 

He shook his head, "Don't worry, I get it, kids are cute but they've always got something about them that makes them difficult at times. Except Elsá. She's a little angel, extremely easy to handle.... even more so to distract" 

The ravenette blinked at him, "Sounds like you know a lot about her... have you by chance... watched her before?" 

"Hmm? Oh yeah. Totally! One time, her sisters had to leave for a family emergency and couldn't take her with them, so I offered to hang around and watch her until they got back. The three of us had a blast!" 

They all blinked at him, "The three of you?" Nino asked, confused. 

"Ah! Their cat, Twilight. Now she's a little rascal if I've ever met one. Hahaha!!!" 

"Indeed" a sudden voice spoke, causing everyone at the table to jerk and turn to see who jumped into their conversation. 

"Certainly. She's just lucky that she's so gosh-darn adorable" another voice joined in. 

Everyone went wide eyed as they took in the sight of two pink haired girls with blue eyes and the exact same face, both dressed in the café's uniform - the only difference between them, being the nametags pinned onto their chests with the word 'Manager' engraved at the top. Except Adrien, who simply waved and smiled at them, "Hey girls!! I was just telling my friends about you" 

Eléna smirked, crossing her arms. "We know" Élise giggled, arms on her hips. "We overheard you" then at the exact same time, " **Why didn't you tell us you were coming over Adrikins?** " 

At the sickeningly-familiar nickname: Marinette, Alya and Nino all flinched and muttered dejectedly under their breaths. " _I thought Chloé was the only one who called him that??!!_ " 

Either the twins and Adrien didn't hear them or chose to ignore them, since no one responded to their unified shock and instead, Adrien's face went red all over again and he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "A-Ah... well... that's--- sorry, I didn't really think about it. It's my first day back at school today and I really wanted to catch up with my friends.... so...." He never actually got to finish whatever it was that he was going to say, because the twins had instantly snatched him up-out of his seat (thankfully he hadn't been holding his drink) and pulled him into their embrace, with him being sandwiched between the both of them (and if one wanted to get technical, he was facing Eléna). 

Marinette could only stare in wide-eyed shock, whereas Nino spluttered incoherently and Alya frowned,  _damn. Those three look good together.... I wonder if Marinette's gonna be okay_. Her eyes flickered over to the ravenette and sighed heavily to herself before turning her sights back onto the pinkettes clutching onto the blonde as if their very lives depended on it, only to sigh once again. She begrudgingly noted, that same as Chloé, they were shaking.  _It seems they were as terrified as the rest of us.... so I guess.... it can't really be helped_. After what had happened, Aly can't bring herself to blame anyone for wanting to cling onto him, to make sure that he's really there, still with them, still very much alive. It sent a pang through her chest and she had to force herself to look away - instead, opting to lightly kick at Marinette's legs under the table until she caught the girls attention. 

"Are you okay?" she hissed under her breath. 

Marinette blinked for a moment, her eyes wandering over to the twins before looking back to her and hissing out her response so as to not be heard. "I... I understand how they're feeling. Must've been just as terrible for them as it was for us when it was discovered that Adrien--- that he'd almost.... well, you know. I'm a bit jealous but, it would be selfish of me to not let them. They at least deserve the chance to see for themselves that he's alright again.... so if they need to hug him or keep him close for a while, then it's okay. I have to be okay with it. After all, it isn't my place to say who can or can't touch him, it's not like I'm his girlfriend or anything" 

 _Yet_. Is what she didn't say but Alya heard it anyways and nodded with a pleased smirk. "Well alright then" 

It wasn't until their conversation ended, that Alya and Mari caught the tail end of what the twins were saying to Adrien and noted that they'd all broken out of the hug, but were still physically close and... the duo had tears in their eyes. 

" **Don't you ever scare us like that again you big dummy!!** " they chastised at once, before speaking in turns, first Eléna and then Élise. 

"If you ever---"

"Ever, ever, ever---"

"Scare us like that again---"

"We swear Agreste---"

" **WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!** " 

"What in the hell---"

"Are we supposed to tell Elsá---"

"If something happens to you??!! HUH?"

"Do you know---"

"How hard it was on us---"

"To have to tell her---"

"That you were in the hospital??"

"That you might die!!"

" **And that we weren't allowed to visit you at all during that time!!!** " 

Eléna closed her eyes, her fringe hiding them as she lowered her head, crossed her arms and turned away, the tears finally falling. Élise worried at her bottom lip, eyes glued to the floor, hands clutching at her upper arms in an attempt to comfort herself even as she continued to shake, her tears also falling. Adrien frowned, glancing between the two of them, seemingly lost as to what he could possibly do to make it better.... at least a little bit. Then his eye caught Marinette's, 'Hug Them' she mouthed silently, 'Both of them' and he nodded in return, sending her what he hoped to be the most grateful smile he could muster, mouthing back 'Thanks' and she tried with everything in her not to blush again. 

With one arm, he pulled Eléna into his side, while the other took hold of Élise and did the same on his other side. With each girl ducking their heads on his shoulders it was a bit easier to wrap his arms around both of them, "Sorry" he whispered into their hair. "I didn't mean to scare you all like that... I promise I'll make it up to you somehow...." 

"Seven days!!" Eléna cut in.

"What?" Adrien asked, confused.

"You were MIA for seven days---" - Élise

"Therefore---"

"If you wanna make it up to us---"

"Then you have to come visit us here---"

"Seven days in a row---"

"To hang out with us---"

"And play with Elsá---"

" **We'll only forgive you after the seventh day!!** " 

"So you'd better damn well make the time---"

"Or else Elsá's gonna cry!!!"

"We're saying this because we care about you---"  

"Be more cautious of your surroundings!!"

" **You sure as hell aren't allowed to die!!** " 

Adrien smiled warmly at them as they lifted their heads to glare at him, "Okay" agreeing easily. "Alright. It's a deal... I'll come visit every day for seven days so that the three of you can forgive me. I'll be more careful in the future, so please try not to worry about me so much... I know the two of you have got enough on your plates.... okay? So please?"  _Thank you both for worrying so much about me, it's nice to know you care that much. I know my thoughts are probably hypocritical compared to my words but... I can't help but think this way and be grateful_.  

The twins huffed, pouting at him before looking towards each other, nodding and then letting go of him with one last squeeze. " **Alright** " the pinkettes then turned their sights onto the other three in the booths as Adrien retook his seat and bowed their heads to them. " **We're terribly sorry for acting so unprofessionally. Especially in front of first time guests. Please allow us to make it up to you** " 

"Free desserts---"

"On the house---"

"For all four of you"

" **We're truly sorry** " 

Marinette was the first one to react as she waved her hands in front of her face, eyes wide. "Oh. No, no. It's okay!! Really!! There's no need for that, we understand!! Don't we guys?" she asked, turning to Alya and Nino, silently pleading with them to agree. 

Alya nodded, waving them off. "Yeah. It's totally cool, I mean, even we've all had our own version of a breakdown at school today so... no worries there. Heh. Seriously, you should've seen some of our classmates today, I'm surprised any of them were willing to let him out of their immediate sight" 

"I want free dessert----OUCH!" Nino tried to say but as he began to speak, he got shoved in his side by Alya's elbow. "ALYA!!" he hissed as he furrowed his eyes, "Rude!" 

She blew him off with a scoff, "This isn't the time to be thinking about your stomach" 

"They offered!!" 

"That's no excuse" 

Before anything else could be said, Penny came back out with their trays of food. "Here you go. Sorry for the wait" she smiled pleasantly as she matched the order to the customer, setting their plates down in front of them. 

"Say. What took the kitchen so long with their order?" 

"The food here doesn't take that long to make" 

Penny rounded on them, smile sharper than before, her eyes closed as she spoke. "Technically their food was finished five minutes ago but since our  _dearly beloved managers_  were too busy throwing a fit in front of the customer's---" the two girls became sheepish at this and ducked their heads in shame, "---I was forced to hold them back and kept them warm until the time when the two of you finally calmed down again... so don't go trying to put the delay on me or Demetri. Got that?" 

The twins straightened, grabbing a hold of each other as they nodded stiffly, " **Yes. Mlle Penny** " they then shuffled away, whilst still clutching onto one another. "If you'll excuse us---" with each word they got further away. "We must check on our sister---" then, just as they reached the stairwell, " **Ciao** " they then proceeded to book it up the stairs and vanished from sight. 

Penny simply sighed and shook her head, "Honestly. Those two" she turned back to the group, "I hope they didn't cause you too much trouble?" 

They all shook their heads, "No. It's fine" they simultaneously called out. 

Penny smiled, kindly. "Good" she then set her sights on Adrien, "Good to have you back with us, M. Agreste" 

Adrien quickly nodded, "Thanks Penny" 

Once she was out of sight, everyone slumped in their seats.

"Well that was terrifying" - Nino

"Mmhmm" - Marinette

"You've got that right. No joke" - Alya

"Oh, you guys have NO idea" - Adrien

"Let's eat before it gets cold" - Alya

"Good idea" the other three answered.

 

**+++**

The rest of their lunch went by without incident and Nino got his free dessert without Alya getting on his case again - which he was very much happy about. Adrien had simply taken the one he was given (his favorite) and gave his thanks as he ate it happily; even the girls caved in once the Noémie Twins brought out a tray full of mouthwatering treats. 

"Well since you've already went through the trouble---" Marinette had started

"I suppose it would be considered rude to not even try at least one of them" Alya had finished

Adrien couldn't help but feel as though the Twin's penchant for completing each other's sentences has worn off on them already - And they'd only just met today!! - he snickered at the thought. 

The Noémie Twins however, just smirked, feeling very smug as they watched their treats being fawned over and Adrien could hear the unspoken,  _'Got You Bitches!!'_  - not in a mean way of course!!! It's just their way of being playful, the blonde knew, however to an outsider.... yeah. It's more of a  _'Once again, we've gotten exactly what we wanted in the first place'_  and it makes you question why you'd even tried fighting them in the first place,  _they just have that kind of effect on people_. The twins always get what they want, one way or another and they're not above using dirty tricks to get what they want either, the sneaky little devils!!!  _Speaking of devils...._  the idea of what kind of damage those two would do if they'd ever gotten Akumatized made Adrien shudder, _they'd definitely give me and Ladybug a hard time, that's for sure! And I pray that never happens_. 

As they said their goodbyes and started walking back to school, Adrien couldn't help but reflect on everything that's happened today and it's only just going into the afternoon!!!  _With so much happening all at once, it feels as though an entire day has already passed_. Laughing quietly to himself as he watched Nino and Alya going back at it again as they walked ahead of him and Marinette, their bickering certainly was entertaining if nothing else. 

"You think those two are gonna be alright?" Mari asked a touch worriedly, since their banter was beginning to get heated. 

"Hmm. It's alright, Mari, you know how they are" 

She frowned slightly, "Yeah... but still...." 

Adrien smiled fondly at her, deciding to take a chance, he moved in closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He tried not to take it personally when she flinched at the sudden contact, her head snapping over to look at him in surprise, "Adrien?" blinking up at him in confusion, her cheeks tinged red. 

"No good? Sorry... if this is too much for you, I can---" he went to remove his hand but before he could do so much as lift it away from her shoulder, she clasped her own hand over his, forcing it to stay in place. 

"N-No. It's good! FINE! I meant fine~!! It's okay really!! Not a problem!!"  _DAMN IT I'M DOING IT AGAIN!!!!_  she internally chastised herself for what felt like the thousandth freaking time!!! fake coughing, she decided to try again, smiling widely at him. "I'm good!" 

He cocked his head uncertainly, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Are you sure?" 

She nodded, pulling her hand away from his once she was sure that he wasn't going to try and pull away again.  _This was the closest Adrien's ever tried to get with me willingly!!! and no the hug before does not count!! or the hand holding in the shop!! nope!! completely different!!!_  "Sorry. You just... surprised me before, is all. It really is okay... I mean----"  _Oh Dieu, I'm gonna strangle myself for this later,_  "We're friends right? Friends touch. It's a norming thing. Me and Alya do it all the time... Nino too. It's no different, right?"  _Dieu I hate myself_. 

His smile grew even bigger, his heart swelling with emotion. Friends!! she did consider them friends after all!!! "Yeah!! We're friends! Great friends!!! Hahahaha!!" his grip around her tightened, feeling just as elated as he had this morning while running around Paris and lounging on the tower for a spell. _I was right, today's been going really great for me!!! It's absolutely thrilling!!_  

Once again, Marinette found herself wishing that he knew.  _Damn it!!!!_  Life was just so UNFAIR sometimes...  _aren't I supposed to be the embodiment of good luck?? what the hell??!!! Agh!!_  mentally shaking her head,  _ah well.... we'll make it work... somehow_. 

What the two of them didn't notice however, was the fact that Nino and Alya had quieted down quite a bit ago and had been discreetly eyeing them out of their peripheral vision, smirking with an all-knowing air between them. It was good to see the two lovebirds together like this, even if Adrien was too dense to realize it just yet and Marinette too shy to do anything about it... but then again that's what they were there for, to help move things along. 

 

Because nobody was a bigger Adrinette Shipper than those two right there. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [French to English] 
> 
> Bonjour = Hello/Good Morning  
> Monsieur = a man, Mister, Sir (M. for short | The plural is Messieurs - MM.)  
> Au revoir = Goodbye  
> Chat Tacheté = Spotted Cat  
> Dieu = God  
> Crépuscule Noir = Black Twilight  
> Mademoiselle = a traditional alternative for an unmarried woman (Mlle for short | The plural is Mesdemoiselles - Mlles)  
> Ciao = Exclamation. Informal. Used as a greeting at meeting or parting. [It is technically Italian in origin but is also used in various other cities, countries and languages such as France] 
> 
> [My Original Characters] Please Don't Be Mean If You Don't Like Them!!! (T-T) Just a simple, 'Sorry but I don't like them' is good enough!!!
> 
> Penny - Waitress at the Black Twilight.  
> Eléna, Élise and Elsá Noémie - Co-owners of the Black Twilight. {Noémie Pronunciation: noh-eh-MEE}  
> Twilight Noémie - Pet Cat and Mascot of the Black Twilight. The Cafe was named after her.


	6. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group Bonding and Adrinette~!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank You All For Being Patient With Me!! I truly appreciate it!!! (^-^) 
> 
> I don't update on a schedule, but you can be rest assured that when I do update, I'll give you quality chapters. - Personally, I prefer waiting longer for better chapters, rather than frequent updates and shitty chapters. You get what I mean? Maybe that's just me, I don't know. 
> 
> Anyways~!! Here it is!! I hope you all like it!!
> 
> And As usual, Please Don't use the word "Fuck" in the comments~ I don't like that word~!! Thank You!!

 

It was rather difficult keeping Chloé's hands off of Adrien once they'd returned to school, the teachers practically had to tear her off of him with a crowbar!!! They understood of course, why the blonde was acting twenty times as clingy than usual.... but still, it was no excuse to Ms. Mendeliev, who insisted that  _'Adrien's recent recovery and return will not be viable as an excuse to slack off in her classroom'_  and it had been spoken in such a way, that all the students questioned if she'd even cared that one of her students had almost ended up dead. All but the ever optimistic Rose believed that to be the case, even Marinette - who also tried to be just as uplifting - found herself questioning the very same thing. Chloé had eventually released the boy with an indignant huff, crossing her arms and pointing her nose into the air as if all else were beneath her.... before finding her seat next to Sabrina who tried futilely to console her. 

Adrien had merely smiled warmly at her and promised that he'd go shopping with her on his next free day. She jumped at the chance, but as usual she couldn't just outright say that that's what she wanted and instead made a rude comment, that made it seem as if she were the one being inconvenienced and was reluctantly agreeing - which as per usual, made the rest of the class  _(especially a certain ravenette)_  irritable. - However, her pleasure was written all over her face as she smiled victoriously.... as if she'd planned that entire thing.... no one would put it past her if she had. It was just something the conniving blonde would do. 

Class then continued on the same way that it usually did, before the incident occurred, with most of the class either: only half listening as they discretely pulled out their phones to text, whispering to their seating partners or passing notes for that little extra thrill of almost getting caught. Kim and Alix being the ones who love the adrenaline rush as they toss paper notes to each other over Alix's shoulder or head (depending on how confident they were in not being caught) borrowing Mylène's compact mirror to better aim for her note's trajectory towards Kim - or in the event that passing to Kim is too risky, instead gives it to Max who will in turn, give it to Kim. Aly would snicker every time that they nearly got caught, which earned her a dirty look from Alix, a mischievous smirk from Kim and an eye roll from Max, who was dutifully jotting down notes for the two accomplices, whom would most likely come to him later on that day to beg him for help -  _since neither of them bothered to pay attention to the lesson_  - as per usual. 

Marinette would elbow her bespeckled friend every now and then in an attempt to get her to knock it off, because there's absolutely no way on this green earth that little-miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng could refuse the very much desperate pleas of one Max Kanté who would text her for help with the image of a sad puppy attached.  _Who in their right mind could deny that cute, pouting face??!! No sane person, that's who!!!!_  the ravenette idly mused to herself. Aly could only manage to just barely muffle anymore laughter once she caught sight of the image, shaking her head fondly in knowing as she watched her friend practically melt in the seat next to her,  _if there's one thing that Max excels at, it's doing whatever it takes to make both Kim and Alix happy.... even resorting to dirty tricks like texting Marinette heart-wrenching images to make her turn on her best friend,_  she internally conceded before hissing "Traitor" into Mari's ears, who could only smile sheepishly at her in response. 

 

**+++**

No one paid attention, when Alix slipped out of her seat to crouch besides Max, or how Kim scooted his chair over on the opposing side to be closer. 

"Thanks for the backup, babe" Alix whispered seductively, followed up by Kim's encouragement, "Yeah, you're the best, Max" 

"Ahhh" Max's face heated up, his cheeks turning red as he rubbed at the back of his neck, heart pounding, nerves causing him to bite at his lip. "I-It was nothing....." he mumbled under his breath but it was still heard by the two teens who were in very very close proximity to him. 

Alix and Kim smirked at each other knowingly, a nod passing between them before they both leaned their faces closer to kiss Max on both sides of his cheeks at the same time - causing Max to tense in his seat, his heart beat even faster and face become even redder. He had to take slow deep breaths to settle himself again once Alix returned to her seat and Kim scooted back to his original position. Max simply played with the hem of his shirt, head down and eyes closed, the notes he was previously working on, left forgotten. 

 

**+++**

By the time the final bell rang out, the only person who was truly disappointed that school was over, was Adrien. Nino simply gave him a shoulder punch before wrapping his arm around his neck and jerking the blonde into him with a laugh, "Dude. You are literally the ONLY guy I know that actually prefers being in school to anywhere else!! I get that you enjoy being out of the house but trust me, there's like, a THOUSAND better things to do than sit in a classroom all day!!" a wicked smirk plastered itself onto his face just then and Adrien paled, he knew THAT look...... "Speaking of which---" 

Adrien broke out into a cold sweat, his nerves on high alert as a sense of impending DOOM washed over him, "Now.... Nino.... let's not get any crazy----" 

"I HAVE GOT THE ABSOLUTELY BEST IDEA EVER, DUDE!!!!" 

"Oh-no" he muttered under his breath as he got dragged along by his certifiably insane best friend, calling out to anyone who would take pity on him and intervene. "Help!! Someone save me from this lunatic!!!" 

No one did. 

 

**+++**

Alya grabbed a hold of Marinette once the blonde had been dragged out of sight, jumping from her seat and tugging the raven out of her own, "Let's follow them!!" 

"What?!!---" there was no time to process anything else as she then was dragged out of the room by HER certifiably insane best friend. "ALYA!!!!" 

The next thing she knew, they were stalking the boys from a safe distance away, with Alya shushing her whenever she tried to voice her protests and grabbing her whenever she tried to sneak away. _Great, just my luck. Ironic._  

 

**+++**

The next thing he knew, Adrien found himself on his back with a 150 pound Anatolian Shepherd Dog, looming directly over him and licking at his face for ten straight minutes, without pause. And he was absolutely petrified. Now, it wasn't that Adrien hated dogs per-say.... it was more like.... the Chat Noir inside of him, the part that Plagg has influence over.  _What with being the CAT Miraculous and all_ \---- do you see the dilemma? 

Before becoming Chat, Adrien loved dogs and always got along with them fairly well. They were playful, affectionate, protective and loyal - all the things that the blonde had lacked in his home life soon after his mother vanished - of course, his father had never allowed him to get a dog, claiming that they were simply mangy, noisy, good-for-nothing creatures with no regard for the 'finer things in life'  _as he'd so eloquently put it_  when Adrien had gathered up enough courage to ask. He'd known the truth though, the real reason why his father detested dogs -  _along with all other fur or feathered cloaked creatures_  - was that there was once an incident at one of his fashion shows, someone (AKA: A high profiled VIP) had brought their kids to the event and allowed for their pet Spanish Mastiff  _which was a puppy at the time_  to be brought in alongside them instead of handing it off to an employee to dogsit until the show was over. 

That puppy, whose name was later revealed to be Dexter of all things [Insert Blank Expression Here], got loose from his owner's grip and rushed into the crowd, causing an uproar among the other guests and reporters gathered in the hall. Dexter in his effort to evade the many hands that sought to catch him - even his owners - jumped onto the catwalk, tripping up all the models on the platform and even going so far as to rip the fabrics with his teeth. It didn't help that one of the models was wearing a modern-day-cavewoman-esque outfit that was topped off with a bone in her hair  _which was later revealed to of been attached to a wig as the dog clamped his unforgiving jaws into it and ripped it clean off the poor woman's head_  leaving only the bald scalp of one severely embarrassed and humiliated model. The paparazzi had gone to town with everything that had happened on that day, resulting in the next morning's paper, headlining as follows: "Who Let The Dogs Out?! Fashion Disaster at Agreste Fashion!!" followed up by pictures of the incident, coupled with a few articles which highlighted "Popular Model Sarah Freed, Secretly Bald?!!"  _the poor woman hasn't made a public appearance since_. It was later announced by a rather  _fuming_  Gabriel Agreste that from now on, no dogs (or any other pet) were permitted entrance to one of his illustrious events and anyone who tried to bring one would be permanently banned from ever attending again. 

Looking back, all Adrien can do is thank God that Hawkmoth hadn't been active at the time of the incident, _who knows what could've ended up happening?_  a few images of an Akumatized Sarah in some eyesore of an outfit running about Paris and causing everyone to lose their hair, becoming bald and utterly humiliated like she was, ran through his mind and he shuddered.  _Thank you, God. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You!!_  

In more recent news: Nino was laughing at him.  _The jerk_. 

"DUDE~!!! You should see.... the look on your face!!!" he said between laughs. 

Adrien however found no humor in this situation, his heart was hammering and every instinct in him was on high alert, demanding he get himself as far away from the overbearing canine towering over him as possible. Unfortunately, he was trapped between it and the floor, unable to escape from under it's heavy weight on his chest.  _This is it, I'm going to die.... for real this time!! and it won't be due to some reckless or heroic endeavor.... no, it'll be because a large dog decided that the great Chat Noir would make an amazing floor cushion!!!!_   He could only imagine the sheer look of disappointment on his lady's face if she saw him just then, the Black Cat of Paris, taken out by a dog at the local pet store that doubled as a shelter and tripled as the pound, because why take up good real estate when you can have the all-in-one package?!! He groaned internally,  _I am so lame!!!_  

Little did he realize that  _said Lady_  was standing by the doorway, biting at her bottom lip as she strained not to laugh, however instead of the  _sheer disappointment_  that the blonde had been expecting.... the only thing that was going through Marinette's head was how absolutely hysterical the entire situation was.  _The Great Chat Noir, brought down single handedly, by a large dog!! Hahahahaha!!!_ shame the boy wasn't aware of this little tidbit. 

Aly had her phone set to record and was currently circling the poor model like a vulture who spotted its prey - the look on her face was absolutely wicked and mirrored Nino's so much, that it was scary. 

"This isn't funny you guys!!!" his anxiety was rising higher with every passing second, "Seriously!!! GET HIM OFF ME!!!" 

Nino was still lost in his hysterics and Alya - not truly comprehending that this was more than simple embarrassment talking - promptly ended the video, only to start snapping photos while announcing, "This'll be great for my blog!! The regular one, not the Ladyblog one" she clarified; and perhaps if this was a different situation, the blonde would've been relieved.... sadly though, it wasn't and he was now on the verge of an all-out panic attack. Thankfully, Marinette noticed this and came to the rescue, gently pushing the friendly mutt off of Adrien and helping him back up. "Are you okay?" 

Taking a moment to steady himself, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his nerves finally settling back down into normal levels again. He nodded stiffly, "Y-Yeah... thanks, Mari" 

She blushed faintly but shoved it back down with a shake of her head, opting to distract herself from her attraction of him, onto giving the boy a once over. He wasn't as tense as before but he was still looking a bit shaken, even as he tried to relax, it was obvious - now that she was fully aware of his situation - that he'd been very much affected by this recent stunt. Smiling warmly at him, she nodded over to the chairs at the front of the building, "Come on. Why don't we sit over there for a bit" then with a newfound burst of courage, she took his hand and led him over to the plush black chairs, maneuvering around the designated petting area's that littered the floor - each one containing a different animal. 

Once seated, Adrien stared up at her questioningly,  _I'm usually good at hiding it but_   _could she tell that I was still rattled?_   before he could put a voice to his thoughts, she spoke up again "Hang on a minute!!" then scampered off to one of the petting area's - the one with the cats in it - it had been her intention to simply grab the first one that she saw but once she got a decent look at them all, she noticed the little black kitten curled up in one of the corners of the display and smiled.  _A Black Cat??!! SCORE!!!_  scooping it up into her arms, the kitten blinked up at her with brilliant jade green eyes and Marinette internally swore that her heart melted a little.  _If Chat Noir was an actual cat and had kittens, this one would be his child!!!_  

From where Adrien sat, he couldn't exactly see what Marinette was doing but when she came back with a little bundle of adorable in her arms, a smile broke out on his face and he could've sworn that his heart melted a little. "Oh my gosh... Mari..." 

She smiled brightly at him, taking the seat directly next to his as she held out the kitten for him to take. "Isn't he just darling?!!" 

Nodding, he took the kitten and sat it in his lap. In response, the kitten began to purr and rub its head against Adrien's body affectionately, which only served to melt the two teens all the more. "AWWWWWWWWW~!!!!!" they both cooed. 

What neither of them realized, was that Alya and Nino were hiding behind the isles with their phones set to record and auto-photograph, respectively (meaning that: while Alya was recording the entire scene before them, Nino was spamming his phone with twenty pictures per second) they made an awesome tag team and they both knew it. With their free hands, they fistbumped, the unspoken  _'Pound It'_  echoing in both their heads.   

 

**+++**

Their next stop was at the arcade and the main attraction that they were drawn to upon first entering, was the "Crossy Road" game. The one where you move the Chicken (or whatever character you choose) across traffic, trains and rivers - AKA The Endless Frogger. 

Nino chose the turtle character and got to 67 hops, before he got hit by a train. 

Alya chose the fox character and got to 80 hops, before she drowned in the river. 

Adrien chose the cat character and got to 101 hops, before he got hit by a truck. The irony of his choosing that specific character was not lost on the ravenette and she stifled a giggle.

And Marinette chose the chicken character because, well for one, there were no ladybugs in the selection and secondly.... the chicken was just flat out adorable. She got to 154 hops before making the terrible decision of going right instead of left to avoid the taxi cab - causing her to be trapped between the tree's - and thus, getting ripped away by the damn eagle.  _Tch_. Crossing her arms in a huff, "No Fair!!! I was winning!!! Why does the screen have to move on its own?!! It's hard enough as it is!!! Plus an EAGLE??!! Why is there an eagle??!! The Eagle Shouldn't Exist!!!!" 

"Whoa there girl, calm down!! It's okay~!!!" Aly laughed, patting her on her shoulder. "Wanna go again?" 

"Yes!!" She then turned to the boys, "Whattaya say? Wanna go again, guys?!" 

"Yeah!!" Adrien replied with enthusiasm. 

"I'm game. Let's play, only this time, let's make a competition out of it" 

Aly raised an eyebrow at him, intrigued. "Oh? And how do you propose we do that? We all play three more rounds and the person with the highest combined score wins?" 

"Something like that, but not quite. In this competition, we play in pairs. Two on Two, we can decide who our partners are in a minute but.... both partners will play at the same time, since this machine is built for that. Once they're both dead, the next pair will play, then once they're dad, we'll take the combined scores from both teams to determine who won. How's that sound?" 

"Let's do it!!!" Adrien agreed readily.

"Great!! Then it's settled, Nino and I versus Marinette and Adrien!!!" 

Both Adrien and Marinette, having not expected this development, both went wide eyed and yelled, "WHAT??!!" at the same time - causing both teens to blush - as the other two snickered at them. 

 

**+++**

Nino and Alya went first. 

On his side, Nino chose the fish character this time and began his journey, flip flopping his way across the roads, rivers and train tracks, always somehow just narrowly escaping certain death. He was doing a lot better than earlier at least (probably because it was competitive, rather than casual play now) moving past his last score and into the 70's; it was at hop 75 that things began to get complicated for him. He reached the wide river, with the logs now moving at a faster pace than before and lily pads scattered all over the place!! What killed him was the fact that the pad he'd jumped to, was too far away from the next one to safely make it to, without drowning in the water and the screen left no room for him to backtrack. There was no way in hell that he was going to let that damn Eagle carry him off, so he commited virtual suicide and made that last hop into the water. He died on hop 77,  _poor sad and pathetic little fishy that's more useless than a magikarp,_  he internally mused. 

He shook his head, laughing. "Bro. Why can't I swim?!! It's a FISH!!! It's a damn fish for heaven's sake!!! Why can't the fish freaking swim??!!! It should be able to right??!! RIGHT??!! All of these aquatic characters!! They should be water resistant!! They should be allowed to go straight through!! Why do they all drown??!!!! Huh?!! Huh??!! Tell me, why!!!!" he cried out in mock hysterics, falling to his knees in defeat as tears ran down his face. 

Adrien and Marinette were both laughing hysterically, Marinette still tried to make him feel better. "Probably to get reactions like that out of you?!" 

He mock laughed, giving a sarcastic remark. "Hah-Hah. Very funny" 

 

**+++**

On Alya's end, she'd chosen the duck and was practically charging her way across the obstacles as she spamed the forward button. She nearly got hit by a truck but she'd miraculously made it by some stroke of luck. 

 

**+++**

Marinette spent the next few moments internally trying to figure out, if by being in such close proximity to 'Ladybug' that her good luck was spreading onto the other people around her.... she couldn't come to a definite conclusion, but either way, she thought it best to back off a couple of steps just to be safe. 

Adrien on the other hand, even despite being the bringer of bad luck, wasn't afraid of getting close to people. In fact, it was at moments like this, that he was grateful for the ability to cause such misfortune.... because now him and Marinette had a better chance at winning. Therefore, he thought it best to move in a couple steps closer to them, just to be safe. 

 **This would all be totally ironic, if either of the miraculous wielders had known the other's thought process, at that very moment in time.**  

It was at the same time that Marinette backed off and Adrien stepped up that Nino had made that critical misstep on the lily pads before, which simultaneously validated Marinette's concerns and encouraged Adrien's mischievous nature.  _Plagg would be so proud_. 

Adrien was feeling pretty self-satisfied by this point, whereas, Marinette was internally freaking out. Also, seeing as how she's now privy to the blonde's identity as Chat Noir - the literal embodiment of bad luck - she now understood the magnitude of exactly WHAT had just happened. 

 _'Good Luck Ladybug stepped back and Bad Luck Cat stepped forward and Nino lost!!!! That has got to mean something right?!! Was Adrien thinking the same thing as me??!! Does he even realize what's just happened??!! Probably not right?!! Unless he did that on purpose..... did he??!! Did he step up on purpose???!! With the intent to cause them bad luck??!! Well??? DID HE OR NOT???!!! AGH!!!! I don't know and I can't even ask him, because I'm not supposed to know his identity!!'_  Little did anyone know, she was now crying on the inside. (T^T) 

 

**+++**

Since Nino was already down for the count, it was up to Alya to carry their team to victory. She made it back to her earlier score and thrilled as she hopped past it, biting at her lip so that she wouldn't bust out laughing at Nino's outburst at that stupid fish. "Shut it Nino!! Or I'll quack up and get hit by the cars!!!" 

Adrien, being the 'All-Powerful Master of Bad Jokes and Puns' that he is, couldn't resist the chance to jump in on that opening -  _even if it wasn't about cats this time. Sadly_. "Yeah Nino, you wouldn't want her to lose her webbing. Just duck down and be quiet. She's feeling Lucky? Don't you ducky?!! Well don't you little quackling?!! Oh wait, I'm sorry, it's duckling, not quackling. Hahahaha!!" 

Yes. They were terrible. And yet..... all three of them laughed. 

"Quiet Blondie!! Stop trying to distract me!!!" 

"I'm not trying. I'm succeeding~!!" 

It was at hop 90 that she hesitated and got crushed by a car, one step too far from the grass. "Agh!! Damn it, I hesitated!!! Why did I hesitate??! NO!!! WHY??!! Why did I stop??!!!" now apparently, it was her turn to hysterically mock-cry. 

Marinette tallied up the scores. "Nino: 77; Alya: 90. For a total of: 167 Hops."

Pleased with their total, both Nino and Alya jumped to their feet and high fived, "We got a good score!!" 

"Nice work, Babe!!!" 

"Thanks, Babe~!!!" 

"Okay!! It's Marinette and I's turn.... move aside, Lovebirds~!!" he teased good naturedly. 

"Keh. You're just jealous~!! Bleh!!" she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. 

Marinette rolled her eyes and Nino wrapped his arm around the ombre-haired girls neck. "No way~!! He's got his girlfriend Nette here, no need for jealousy in this group..... right Adrien?" he asked slyly, a smirk on his lips, knowing full well that his best friend - for as much as he loves the guy - wouldn't catch onto the meaning of the DJ's words until AFTER he'd already agreed. 

And right on que----- "Right!!" the blonde agreed instantly, crossing his arms and nodding his head. 

Marinette, caught on however and went beat red, choking slightly as Alya sent her a discreet wink.  _It's nice that the two of them are trying to help me and get Adrien to see me as something more than a friend, but.... they're killing me here!!! So embarrassing!!!_  (>//<) 

It was while Marinette stared at the floor, her face still red and the toe of her shoe twisting nervously against the carpet that the meaning of Nino's words, even his own response finally registered in the model's head.  _Ugh. Talk about a blonde moment!!! Agh!!_  Then, his face in turn, promptly turned red and he went to correct his mistake; waving his hands around and shaking his head, trying to deny his previous statement. 

"Wait!! Nino!!!! We're friends!!! Just friends!! She's not my girlfriend!!! No way!!! Impossible!!" His eyes widened as he then realized how hurtful that statement could be taken and quickly turned to the ravenette in question. "Not that it's completely impossible, that's not what I meant, what I meant to say was that.... any guy would be lucky to have you as their girlfriend Marinette!!! You're cute and funny and very very dependable!!! You're very kind and giving and... and.... and.... great!! You're just great!! Perfect, even.... like.... you're amazing but we're not dating, we're just friends right?!!----" the way he was babbling now, was like how he spoke when in front of Ladybug without his cat mask on and Marinette found it endearing rather than hurtful. 

Now that she knew the truth, she found that she wasn't as upset about his claims of them being just friends as she normally would've been.... because now she knew.... that he really did love her. The Ladybug side of her, but still, it was HER that he longed for and chased after; It was her that he was willing to sacrifice everything for, her that he held out hope for. And it was all just.... so romantic, she felt like she could cry. It didn't go over her head either, when he began to compliment her as plain-old Mari either, it only caused her face to become even MORE red.... if that were even a possibility. Hahaha!! 

Smiling gently at him, she put her hands on his shoulders to stop him from talking. At the contact, his voice died in his throat and he blinked at her, as if coming out of a trance. It was adorable. The two of them just stood there for a moment, gazing into each others eyes, completely forgetting that both Nino and Aly were standing RIGHT THERE and watching the entire exchange with knowing and pleased smirks. 

She spoke softly, giving his shoulders a light but firm squeeze to reassure him that she wasn't upset at all. "Of course we're friends. It's okay, I know what you meant. I understand, I'm not upset at all. So you don't have to freak out.... m'kay?" due to the physical contact, she felt when he finally relaxed again, taking a deep breath to steady himself. 

"Okay" he whispered breathlessly and Marinette had to resist the urge to reach up and pet his hair like she would if he were dressed as Chat.  _How would I explain that without outing myself?!_  

In that moment, Adrien secretly wished that Marinette would reach out and ruffle his hair like Ladybug's done to him so many times before to Chat Noir, after managing to calm him down.  _How the hell am I supposed to explain the urge for headpats without outing myself?!_  

It was at this moment,  _after a few secret photos of the two of them like this_ , that Aly decided it was time for them to come back to reality again and coughed to get their attention. "Uh, guys.... the competition? Are we still doing it or what?" 

Both Marinette and Adrien jumped at the noise and jerked away from each other as if they'd been burned. Becoming sheepish, Mari bit at her lip whereas Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck respectively. "S-Sorry!!" they both stuttered out, their faces reddening. 

Aly and Nino just laughed, highly amused by their similar antics. _God, these two are perfect for each other,_  both Alya and Nino thought at once. 

 

**+++**

They took their positions again, Marinette going for the chicken again and Adrien taking the cat once again, because now that he'd had fun using Duck-Puns with them, he felt it was safe to use his beloved Cat-Puns without being suspect. 

Adrien was breezing through, avoiding the cars and trains, timing his jumps at the river just right.... if he hadn't known any better, he'd of said that luck was on his side. If only he knew that Lady Luck herself was directly next to him. 

Mari was spamming the buttons, much like what Alya had been doing before and laughing her head off. "Ah!! How Am I Not Dead??!! How Did The Truck Miss Me??!! I'm not complaining but... seriously!!! Hahahaha How??!!" she had a vague idea but she wasn't going to say it. 

"Maybe it likes you, Nette" 

"Wow Girl!! You're really great at this game!! I'm jealous!!! Plus, look at you zooming through? Didn't think you were the type to live on the edge. Hahaha" 

She laughed, taking her time to cross the river before spamming the button once more and singing "Oh I live on the edge alright!! I'm a chicken on the edge~!! Tonight yeah baby, tonight yeah baby~!!! I'm on the edge~ of glory!!! and I'm hangin' on a moment of truth~!!! Out on the edge of glory and I'm hangin' on a moment with you~!!! I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge~ The edge, the edge, the edge, the edge~ I'm on the edge, of glory~ And I'm hangin on a moment with you~ I'm on the edge with you~!!! I'm a chicken on the edge with you~!!!" she was in the 100's now.

"That song was Meow-velous~!!" 

 _Princess_ , is what he didn't say but Marinette heard it anyways and smiled brightly.  _What would he think if he knew, that he's given me two nicknames?! Hahaha!!!_  

On Adrien's side, he was just leaving the 90's and entering the 100's when he just nearly got crushed by the incoming train. Thankfully, he'd gotten out of the way just in time.  _Well that could've been a disaster, Hahahaha_. 

It was then, that Marinette got a little too caught up in her singing that she lost focus momentarily. "I'm a Chicken on the EDGE~!!! AHHHHH!!! HAHAHAHAHHA!!!! I~ I am~ I am a freaking chicken~ living on the edge~!!!! Go go go go go little chicken!! Fly Away!!! Be Free~!!!! ----- Damn It!!!!" she landed in the river at hop 109. "NOOO!!!! Oh the humanity!!" 

"Meow thinks, Mew Meant Foul-anity~!!" 

Marinette burst out laughing, "That was terrible~!! Hahahaha!!" Aly and Nino joined in too. 

The blonde fake pouted, "That line was Paw-some and Mew all Meow it!!" they laughed even harder, which made him smile.  _They'll deny it but they obviously like my jokes_. That knowledge alone pleased him on a level, that not even he himself could understand. "But I'm Feline forgiving today, so Meow'll let this go. Just this once~!! Because it's Mew~" He made it to hop 107 before he got crushed by incoming traffic moving in all directions at once. "Hey!! Cats have Nine Lives!! I should be allowed to resurrect when I die!! Meow I'm Furr-iously offended~!!" 

"Nette: 109; Adrien: 107. For a grand total of: 216!! And the winners for the competition are Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste~!! Take a bow and bask in your victory~!!" 

The laughter only continued and Adrien found himself really grateful to have such amazing friends. _This has been an excellent bonding experience_.  

"And now for a new competition!! A Classic Battle Of The Sexes!!! Girls versus Boys!! Who's up for it?!!" the ombre-haired girl asked excitedly. 

The rest of them answered at once, "I'm In!!!" 

 


End file.
